A Strength Called Friends
by cdgal
Summary: A self edition of Chapter 11 has been updated. Chapter 12 is in progress.
1. Chapter 1

This is cdgal, previous fallen-night. I know it's been a year long since my last update... and I'm sincerely sorry about it. I think you, readers, have waited enough, and I've better to update my chapter, before I'm forgotten. -.-;

Here I would like to thank my editors, Eternal.Angel, kaykay692 and shemeno. Without them, I won't know where I made mistakes on; and without their suggestion, this story will not be this perfect. You three are the best of the best!! Thank you!

Before the chapter, there's something I would like to announce: first of all, I've decided to switch back to Ryoma instead of Ryoko. I could see that not many people are fond of this transsexual change. Now since that there are some editors willing to take their time helping me editing; and I, will pay my debts to them by making the story more interesting with my best effort, hope you all like this version more.

Second of all, also the last of all, there may have an OOC-ness in some of characters. I'll try to see what I can do to prevent this from happening; even if there is, I try to lessen them as much as I can.

Ok, enough talking. Now let's start rolling

* * *

--Chapter 1--

"Ryoma? Are you awake yet?" a yell from the Echizen residence caused the person in bed to stir. "Isn't today the day?"

"I don't know, and I don't care!" came the muttered reply.

"What are you saying? You'd better get up soon; otherwise you'll be late!" called the mother, Rinko, who wouldn't approve of her son to be late for his first day of school. Instead of receiving a reply, she was met with a snore, and that was the final blow from her.

* * *

" ECHIZEN RYOMA!"

"Damn that old lady..." complaint Ryoma yawning. Yesterday had been a hectic day. His family had just moved in the previous day. Who knew that unpacking and exploring the new environment would make Echizen Ryoma dead tired? To add on more irritation, who would have thought that the distance of the two, United States and Japan, would be THAT far...

As Ryoma took another glance at his wrist, the thought of this morning's event made him groan. Thanks to that old lady's ploy, he realized that it wasn't 8.30am, but it was actually only 8. He gave another yawn before continued his way to class.

* * *

When he was passing through the campus, he heard a yell, "Echizen!" Wearing an uninterested expression, Ryoma stopped his pace before turning his head to see who was calling for him.

The caller, who was unaware of the meaning to that expression, thought this Echizen person would react a recognition when hearing upon the calling and expected a response such as 'It's you.' or 'You are...?'. However, instead he received a "Do I know you?"

"I'm Horio. Don't you remember the Horio from your class?" the consequence of underestimating Ryoma was to be greeted by a silent glare, then a cold shoulder. Finally Ryoma just turned and headed on his way.

"Wow... they weren't kidding when they said Seishun Gakuen has the best facilities ever! Hey, Echizen! Have you decided which club activities you're going to participate? I heard that Seigaku is famous for its Tennis Club, and that's why I'm joining there..." apparently the duo was walking past the tennis court. However Ryoma, being a cocky brat, wasn't listening to anything that Horio was saying.

Ryoma was glad that he and Horio didn't walk the same path to school. He didn't want to die of boredom; nor did he want to be deaf in the beginning of school term. He preferred thinking than to listening to an annoying guy, which was exactly what the cat-eyed boy was doing now. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long, when a shout reached his ears. It turned out that a group of high school students were swinging a racket, which Ryoma could tell didn't belong to them; but instead belonged to a crying girl.

* * *

"Give it back." Ryoma said defiantly. The older boys turned, shocked to see a little kid glaring at them.

"Huh? What did you say?" One of the boys glared at Ryoma in warning; but the latter continued to challenge them.

"I said 'Give it back'."

"Who do you think you are, kid?" the head of the gang, smiled mockingly. It was obvious that they were about to pick a fight, or was it Ryoma, who initiated it? It was then one of the taller boys noticed what the others had not noticed of and there came a whisper amongst the group.

"You're from Seigaku?"

"That's none of your business."

The leader of the group laughed. 'This kid has guts. Even if he's a little kid, he still wouldn't back down. How interesting!', the leader thought.

"I'm Wataru Suzuki from Aoyama High. Yoroshiku."

Ryoma reached out to the awaited hand. Rather than introducing himself, he demanded for the racket. The leader, Wataru, seemed to notice that and was amused by the kid in front of him.

"I like you!" Wataru gave a laugh before continuing. "How about a match? Just you and me." he suggested before he turned serious.

Ryoma, normally wouldn't take on the bet but he couldn't disappoint the child either for she had a desperate look on her face. Without a choice, he took the challenge.

* * *

"Game, Wataru. 3 games to love." Wataru Suzuki wasn't satisfied even though he was leading the game. He knew the kid, who was now servicing their fourth game, wasn't putting all of his strength into the game. Though what he didn't know was that it had been ages for Ryoma had played tennis and therefore the score, for him, was reasonable.

"Onii-san!"

A cry zapped Ryoma into reality. Turning to the source, he understood what had happened there. That Wataru guy somehow, without his noticing, signaled his friends to take the child as a threat in order to make him play seriously. Ryoma sighed at being forced to play seriously. As if the real Echizen Ryoma had awakened, the game had finished in a blink of an eye and that had been witnessed by a group of Seishun students not far from the free tennis court.

--End of Chapter 1--

* * *

Glossary:  
Seigaku: short for Seishun Gakuen

Yoroshiku: nice meeting you

Onii-san: big brother

* * *

Final edited: 13th August

Next on "A Strength Called Friends": Ryoma finally gets to meet the Regulars. And what's with the match with him and Buchou, Tezuka? Who will win the match? Please stay tune on Chapter 2


	2. Chapter 2

Cdgal: while waiting for my other editor to finalise "A Strength Called Friends: Chapter 2", I've decided to update my chapters in one go. There will be a total of 8 of my past edited chapters. I have yet to decide there will be one or 2 more chapters before the epilogue, but I can reassure you that I have finished working on my last chapter long time ago.

I'm sorry for not updating "ASCF" and "Love Takes Time" sooner, you might have noticed it by now that "Cinderella Style" is my priority now. Speaking of which, the next unedited chapter for "Cinderella Style" will be taking extra time as there's a season error for most of the scene. Stupid me for only realised it recently.

P/S: there will be a small note indicating whether the chapter is unedited version or is of edited one.

* * *

--Chapter 2--

"Echizen, come on!" Horio urged Ryoma to hurry up but the young man was confused. Why the rush? The date for registering club activities wasn't due today, neither did the teacher demand to meet them after school. So what was the rush?

"I can't wait to meet the Regulars." so the Regulars were coming back today. That would explain why there were a lot more first years compared to yesterday at the tennis court. The Regulars had a game to play on the previous day that was why they weren't seen until today. This afternoon, however, who would have expected they had failed to show up again.

"Che! This is boring..." it was meant to be a talk to himself, but a highly sensitive hearing senior named Arai had heard the comment and gotten angry by it.

"What are you saying?"

Instead of repeating what he had just said earlier, Ryoma gave a cold shoulder and that was only to increase Arai's anger. As a result, the Arai guy picked up the nearest tennis ball and smacked it right on the back of the head of the first year's head. Ignoring the childish game the senior was playing, Ryoma continued his way to the exit. His thoughts of the senior quitting the game was absolutely mistaken because for the next minute passed he'd gotten several bull eyes on his first wound.

"Seems like you don't have a partner to play with ne, senpai?" it was obvious that the nerve of Ryoma had begun to lessen. "Mind if I borrow your racket?" not even bothering to wait for permission, he grabbed it from the person he asked and the duel began almost immediately.

And that was then the Regulars had decided to make their appearance.

* * *

"Is Arai at it again?" a well-built muscle third year, Kawamura Takashi, groaned.

"Man, it's the mmpteenth time already, that Arai. Come on, minna. We'd better separate them before Tezuka arrives," a motherly third year, Oishi Shuuichiroh, tried to stop the mess before it got them into trouble.

"But why, nya-? I wanna see Ochibi play..." pouted the same year student, Kikumaru Eiji.

"Didn't we see enough of it yesterday?" a snake-like sophomore, Kaidoh Kaoru, hissed uninterestedly.

"Are you scared, Mamushi? Of that first year? I never thought you were THAT much of a coward. Ha!" second year, Momoshiro Takeshi, was Kaidoh's destined rivalry to almost everything.

"What'd you just say?"

"Mamushi's a coward, who'll lose under a freshman's hand."

"Yarou!"

"Ii data..." commented the tallest of the group, Inui Sadaharu, a third year student who loved to drag everyone he knew down to hell with his deadly experiments.

"That first year, he's good. " complimented another third year student with brown hair, Fuji Shuusuke, who would be mistaken for a girl if he wasn't wearing a boy's uniform. "Ne, don't you think he's got potential, Tezuka?"

"For everyone's slackness, minna run 20 laps," the latecomer, Tezuka Kunimitsu was the buchou of STC (Seigaku's Tennis Club), whose nickname was from expressionless guy to a demon for his infamous hell-like punishment.

"What?"

"Buchou!" everyone at the court protested at the given punishment. It seemed like they, particularly the Regulars, had forgotten who the latecomer was. As soon as another punishment '30 laps' spoke out, it was then they realized that the more they protested, the more the laps would be given to them.

'How typical of him.' they thought before starting warming up.

The captain took a final glance at the still going game before joining the laps with the others.

* * *

The laps were finished in record time, even threatening them with the 'edible drinks' of one of the Regulars had produced wouldn't as effective as this. It seemed that everyone was eager to know who would be the first to win, the senior or the first year. After half an hour or so, the game ended with the first year winning by 6-0.

Ryoma panted heavily. He never knew he would play tennis again, neither knew it had gotten smoother after that play with... who was that guy again? Watashi? Or was it Hotaru? Whoever it was, he would like to thank the guy for making the long lost feeling come back to him. He hadn't had such a tiring yet marvelous feeling ever since his dad forbade him playing tennis nearly a year ago. His life had been turned a 180 degrees upside down ever since that faithful day. He couldn't believe he would miss the old times that much...

"Nice game you played there, kiddo!"

It was the same group from the day before. Of course to Ryoma, he hadn't had the interest to meet them, nor had the interest to greet them. The boy would rather head directly towards the exit.

"Hey, wait up!"

"He's cold."

"That's why I don't like Ochibi."

"Maybe he has his own reasons to be like that..."

"This is boring. I'll go practicing. Sshhh-"

"I need more of his data..."

"He's as cold as you, ne? Are you sure you two aren't related? "

The last person said nothing as there was nothing to be said.

"No? Hmm... I wonder if he's already booked. Maa, we'll be at a loss if we don't take him with us ne, Tezuka?"

* * *

" Come in." it was a bad timing for Ryoma because the person he was seeking for was on the line.

"Yeah, I know... But... Alright. We'll talk again. Bye." after hanging up the phone, the person looked up only to see a very familiar looking boy, who was by now walking up to her.

"Ryoma? Is that you?"

"No, it's not." Ryoma said sarcastically.

"Of course it's me. Who else do you think I am?"

"I mean why in the world did you dress like that?" there wasn't any wrong with Ryoma's appearance. He had the same school uniform just like everybody else, only his small figure seemed to have engulfed by the oversized uniform.

"Geez, Ryuzaki-sensei. I thought you're more smarter than me. Haven't you heard of 'In disguise' before?" Ryuzaki-sensei did something wiser than to retort back. She sighed, dropping the subject.

"I just hope you're not as much of a troublemaker as your dad is, Ryoma. I had enough trouble back then, so I'm not going to have more of that now." she rubbed her temple tiredly. Her past together with someone as carefree as Echizen Nanjiroh didn't amuse her for he was already a trouble maker. Compared to a high school student, she was so much older to play pranks with. Sure they shared a happy moment but having her cleaning up his mess after that wasn't as close as classifying 'having fun'.

"But you're proud of him, aren't you?" Ryoma could see that although the sensei was complaining about nothing but the trouble his dad had caused, she had that proud look on her face when she mentioned him.

"Yeah, I was, and still am. The legendary tennis professional player, Echizen Nanjiroh, made not just only the school, but the whole nation of Japan proud by winning 37 consecutively in the States..." Ryuzaki-sensei was glad... No, she was very proud to see one of her students working his butt hard to archieve his dream of becoming the best in tennis. His hard work had been paid off was the result to his success earning himself the title of "Samurai Nanjiroh" over decades. He could have the fame for all he wanted even if he had retired because there was no other tennis players had ever won as much as he had in the States before. If that was to register into Guinness World Records, Echizen Nanjiroh would be the first Japanese to put into 'The Person Having the Most Consecutive Wins' section.

"Who is now a pervert old monk..."

"You forgot to add 'lazy' there." both sensei and Ryoma shared a laugh at the description they commented on the former pro. There was no doubt people would most definitely hypnotised themselves that 'this is NOT the Nanjiroh I'm seeing' after witnessing their idol, dressed in an old priest attire, reading porn magazines while stretching his itchiness with 00.01 decency.

"Now since you're joining my club, don't think that I'll treat you differently than others just because you were my once favourite student's son..." Ryuzaki-sensei, who failed to notice the fading smile on Ryoma's face, said while continued jotting some note down on the paper she worked on before the interruption.

"Who said I'm in tennis club?"

That earned an abrupt stop and disbelief from the elder woman. She blinked a couple times, not realising she had spoken her thought out.

"You're not?"

"I wish I could, but I can't." the only child in the Echizen household plastered a faint smile before deciding it was about time to leave.

"You can't or you won't play, Ryoma?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked a question that was left unanswered by the boy who had just left.

--End of Chapter 2--

* * *

Glossary:  
Senpai: a senior

Minna: everyone

Mamushi: viper

Yarou: you bastard

Ii data: good data

Buchou: captain

Sensei: coach


	3. Chapter 3

--Chapter 3--

--The next day--

"Woah, that's so amazing! No, you're amazing, Echizen!"

"Yeah, you're the only one to have your name on the list as a first year..."

"What's more, you've just only been in the club for what? Two days, and your name is already on the list!"

"What's with that sour face, Echizen? Shouldn't you be excited? Or at least be happy after hearing such good news?" Horio said when he was greeted by a silent while the other two of his classmates had stars in their eyes. It wasn't a usual thing that they would see the name of a freshman on the intraschool ranking list. There had never been a single freshman who could have such a privilege of wearing a Regular jersey except for Echizen Ryoma, who was once a prodigy.

Not noticing a fist clenching Ryoma, whose expression became unreadable, the boy who having two years of tennis continued to express his enviness and forced to stop himself when Echizen, without a warning, tore up the paper from the notice board and sped off.

"Hey, Echizen! Where are you going?"

* * *

"Why? Why did you put my name on the list?" Ryoma said, heavily panting by the time he stopped running. Now facing Ryuzaki-sensei with the crumpled name list in his hand, he eyed the tennis coach angrily.

"What list? I don't get what you're saying, Ryoma." confused at the stare, the coach asked really not understanding at what had she did to be angry at.

"Why is my name on this list? You know I can't play."

"You can't or you won't." it was up until now that did Ryoma realized that someone was inside the same room as he was, whom he chose to ignore at before continuing on.

"You know the reason Ryuzaki-sensei. You know it."

"Yeah, but..."

"Echizen, you've mistaken Ryuzaki-sensei. It's not sensei who's responsible for the list, it's I." Tezuka, who seemed to know what Ryoma wanted to ask, seeing upon the glare, which had never left his face, introduced himself. "Seigaku no Buchou, Tezuka Kunimitsu."

So this was him. The infamous Tezuka, who according to the introduction he heard from one of the senpais the other day "was an expressionless and boring guy."

"I saw his match with Arai yesterday. He has the potential, sensei, and that's what our club needs in order to get into Nationals."

"Ryuzaki-sensei, you know what dad did to me last time and I'm not going to let that happen again, not this time." looking up at Tezuka then back to Ryuzaki-sensei, Ryoma bowed politely before making his way to the exit.

"Ryuzaki-sensei."

"I understand, Tezuka, but that kid had a hard time before and..." Ryuzaki-sensei sighed before trying to make reason with the buchou that Ryoma wouldn't change his mind once it was set.

"And?"

"It's nothing. I'm just curious, Tezuka." knowing it wasn't the time to tell just yet, the coach seeing Tezuka so insisted of having Ryoma into the club, asking attempting to change the subject. "Why do you insist Echizen to play? Any particular reasons?"

"Like I said, he has the potential but he's just needs a little more time to smoothen out his play."

"I see..." not surprised or bothered to ask how he knew Ryoma had played tennis before witnessing a game played against outside the school, Ryuzaki-sensei only nodded in affirmation, thinking of perhaps there was something she missed to see what Tezuka had seen in that stubborn prodigy.

"Sensei, may I know what happened to Echizen?" Tezuka, with determination shown in his eyes, broke the intense silent before asking.

* * *

It was half an hour after the final bell rung. After gotten themselves ready for their afternoon practice, the Regulars found themselves looking at the almost deserted courts. Their buchou was nowhere in sight, neither was their coach, even the non Regulars seemed to be vanished. There, however, was a partial group who seemed to whisper among themselves.

"I wonder where Tezuka is..." glancing at his watch, the vice-captain, Oishi, asked.

"It's so unlike him to be late, nya-" agreed his partner in tennis, Kikumaru.

"Do you think he's sick?" asked the shy guy, Kawamura.

"Sick? Buchou? Taka-san, who are you kidding? This is buchou we're talking of..." the spiky headed guy, Momoshiro said laughing a bit afterwards.

"What are you suggesting then, Momo?"

"I was thinking maybe he's sabotaging..."

"You're one to talk." interrupted the guy with bandana, Kaidoh.

"Teme, are you picking for a fight?" Momoshiro retorted back angrily.

"Ii data. Tezuka's sabotaging the practice..." commenting the tallest person of the group, who was madly scribbling down the data, Inui.

"Maybe they can tell us, ne? " Fuji, the only blond of the group, pointed to the mentioned group who seemed to be rushing to the other side.

"Oi, where are you rushing to?"

"Eh? Momo, haven't you heard? " the person who halted by Momoshiro began to explain, which only to be received by a blank look. "There's a game starting at 2..."

"A game?" glances were exchanged from each of the Regulars as they heard of nothing as such. "Do you know whose game is it?" when hearing the answer of 'It's Buchou with that Echizen kid', it only resulted in the 7 people to wear 7 different expressions in shock.

"Arai, hurry up! The game's gonna start in a minute!" with that Arai left with the same expression it had on each of every Regulars' faces.

* * *

Ryoma was standing on the court getting comfortable with a racket he lend from someone in hand. Thinking back earlier some time before the afternoon, the stoic buchou came to him and asked for him a game. For what reason he agreed to this, Ryoma didn't know. He only knew that now how he was regretting agreeing on the decision in the first place. He gave a sigh just before hearing someone entering the court. As predicted, the guy wore his usual expression.

'Does this guy ever smile?' the young Echizen wondered.

Saying nothing, both Ryoma and Tezuka were in position, with Ryoma as the first one to serve. Throughout the game, Ryoma had the upper hand, which greatly astonished everyone except for a few - Tezuka, Fuji, Ryoma himself and the not-far-away tennis coach, Ryuzaki-sensei.

However, the tables were turned in the middle of the game with now Tezuka leading 4-2. Both were panting, but Tezuka's wasn't panting as heavy as Ryoma's was. Deciding to turn the score around, Ryoma changed to his left hand to serve in the next game hoping to get a service ace or at least gain a score from the captain. Unfortunately, Tezuka, never letting down his guard as always, saw through the plan and countered it with a smash.

Again, almost everyone was stunned because they never knew Echizen was an ambidexterity, except a few people whose name had been mentioned earlier. Sure, the audience had seen Echizen played alright, but that was when he played with his right hand.

The game resumed with Echizen managing to score a few points, but each time he was near to ending a game, Tezuka would return the ball unexpectedly, either with a lob or a short drop, which left his score hanging before scoring for himself.

"Is this alright?" Tezuka looked up slightly as it was his turn to serve. "To use your full strength, I mean." even if Tezuka was surprised, his face didn't show it but to continue the game. "I see." with Ryoma's last word, the game played on silent.

Ryoma panted heavily on the ground. He had just lost his last serve and still hadn't broken Tezuka's plays like he intended to. Yet that didn't mean he was giving up. As long as the game was resumed, he still had the chance even if it meant a minimum ray of light. Furthermore, he had a reason not to lose. He was given a proposal before the challenge that they would stop bugging him if he was able to win against the captain. Since he had no intention of joining the club (which he wasn't even interested at all) or to be the pillar of Seigaku as Tezuka had offered (which earned the gasping and jaw dropping from the audience), he accepted the dare hoping that they would do what they promised.

"Game! Won by Tezuka! 6-2!"

Tezuka looked at Ryoma, who knelt on the ground. He had been waiting for the reply but what Ryoma did was to remain silent.

"Echizen."

"I don't have a say in this now, do I?" Ryoma sighed before asking when was his time to play, which shocked the others because that match with Tezuka lasted for about 3 hours and didn't he need a rest after that? It was thanks to buchou who told him to get some rest and announced to everyone that the ranking was postponed until tomorrow. The ichinen left the court without saying much words after that.

* * *

It was after a brief announcement for tomorrow's event that everyone left the changing room for their own destination, except for one who sat steadily on the bench, pressing his left arm. And that was how Oishi, the fuku-buchou, saw the unbeatable buchou, at which he was alarmed.

"Your arm..." it was the same arm one of the seniors, who Tezuka played with, hit with a racquet after he had played with underarm 2 years ago.

"Don't worry. It's nothing serious." seeing at the vice's worring face, Tezuka replied, unrolling his sleeve down at the same time.

"But..."

"Oishi, what do you think of him?" the protest was only cut by Tezuka's sudden question, succeeding to distract for his past injury.

"You mean Echizen? I would say he's not too bad. But I never know he could play with his both hands just like you..." that was precisely the reason why Tezuka got that injury in the first place.

"Other than that?"

Oishi sighed at the question. As one of the closest friend after Fuji, he knew Tezuka wasn't a person who liked to kid around and if he wanted to know the truth, so be it.

"You did use your full strength like Echizen'd said, didn't you?"

"I have to."

Questions like 'what did he meant by "he had to"? Did he really forget how serious it would get if full strength was used?' flew on the vice's mind first before a thought came occurred to him.

"Yes, Oishi. He knew. Echizen knew about Tezuka's injury. That's why he asked the question." it was Ryuzaki-sensei, who revealed herself at the entrance before walking slowly towards them. And that expression of Tezuka shown on the face also supported what the coach had said was right.

"I'm not quite convinced yet at the reason you told me the other day. It's actually more than that isn't it?" without waiting for a reply, she continued on saying. "Anyways, what you're doing I have no rights to interfere with, but just one question. Why do you insist using Echizen?"

"Because I still can see that Echizen hasn't given up on tennis although he said he's no longer playing." Tezuka spoke knowing it was no longer a use to hide any longer. "He's a passionate player like us, sensei, and it's not an easy thing to give up just like that. I don't want him to regret in his decision, in which he knew himself wasn't true." Tezuka took a short breath before continued on. "That's why, Ryuzaki-sensei, I hope that you would tell us about why Echizen has stopped playing." there was another pause. "I know you're not in the term to speak, but Echizen can't be in the state that that would later be regretted."

'Regret, is it?' thought the coach. Was that what she and Nanjiroh had not seem in Ryoma? A regret for not being able to play in tennis, a stream of his energetic life? Taking several minutes of consideration on either making Ryoma regret or taking the risk of being recognized, she spoke.

"Alright. I'll do what I can. But! There's no guarantee that his dad would approve it."

Relieved it wasn't a firmly rejection to his question in demand, Tezuka gave a deep bow as he thanked the coach for he really appreciated it.

Eyeing Tezuka who left with the vice captain, Ryuzaki-sensei let out a breath thinking at the thought of how the samurai was SO going to be happy about it with 99.99 less enthusiasm.

--End of Chapter 3--

* * *

Glossary:

Seigaku no buchou: Seigaku's captain

Teme: you bastard/Why you!!

Ii data: good data

Ichinen: a freshman

Fuku buchou: vice captain

Buchou: captain

Sensei: it's "coach" in this case

* * *

Cdgal: I don't know the school timetable in Japan, so I use mine as a reference. The class begins at 8.30am and ends at 1.30pm.


	4. Chapter 4

--Chapter 4--

Spending about half a year with Echizen Ryoma, a transferred student, had made the remaining 8 Regulars realize that the first year wasn't as cold as they thought he would be. There were a few episodes during the said period like, Echizen was irritated by the frequent visit from that Wataru Suzuki from Aoyama High School (who didn't seem to know the meaning of 'backing off'), had a soft spot for his cat (which they later found out that the name was Karupin), and that 'mada mada dane' (meaning that 'you're not there yet' or 'you still have a long way to go') had became his favorite catch phrase.

They also remembered of how Echizen disliked about being captured in a photo, making the reporters from 'Monthly Tennis Magazines', Inuoe-san and Shiba-san, who particularly putting all her might by causing so much trouble just to catch a glimpse of a certain freshman.

If it was to say that Echizen wasn't a socialize person wasn't 100 true. He could be sometimes seen walking home or hanging out with the rest of the Regulars, but that was due to the persuasiveness of his noisy senpais, namely Momoshiro and Kikumaru.

They did compete with other schools though. The first school Seigaku competed against was Fudomine High where they met Tachibana Kippei, the captain of the tennis club, and became friends and rivals both on and off of the tennis court. The most interesting part was the relationship between Momoshiro and Kamio Akira (who mistaking him for Kaidoh, the one whom he played against in the tournament). They were neither friends or rivals, but were meant to be destined to fight over Tachibana Ann, the younger sister of the Fudomine captain. The most notable one was to fight over a bicycle, an incident where they chased each other instead of catching the handbag snatcher.

Later came St Rudolph, where Seigaku learnt that Fuji Yuuta used to attend the same school as his elder brother, Fuji Shuusuke, but the stay didn't last very long. According to Yuuta, it was too much pressure for him because he had a brother who was a genius and he was often compared with him. There wasn't much to say, apart from the very strange relationship between Fuji Shuusuke and Mizuki Hajime, St Rudolph tennis club's manager.

Next was Yamabuki High, where Seigaku met Sengoku Kiyosumi, the same person who got bonked by Echizen with a toy and the person who Momoshiro went against in the tournament. It was Seigaku won at the end; although Momoshiro had injured the same ankle he had injured in the beginning of the year. Perhaps it was because he found that Momoshiro was an interesting person, that was why Sengoku started to call Momoshiro 'Omoshiro-kun' rather than 'Momoshiro-kun'.

Last but not least was Hyoutei High. It was a stir when buchous from both schools went against one another. Atobe Keigo, a player who took the winning so badly that he lured Tezuka into an extended game, which he knew very well that Tezuka would default the game due to the comeback of that injured arm. Alas, the plan had worked, but then because Seigaku had placed Echizen as the reserve player, the whole situation overturned and it was Seigaku who won at last.

* * *

The Regulars were in their best condition because today was a very crucial day that the third years would no longer have another chance to participate if they lost this tournament. This was their last chance to be a part of the tournament because later in the months the third years - Fuji Shuusuke, Kawamura Takashi, Kikumaru Eiji, Inui Sadaharu, Oishi Shuuichiroh and Tezuka Kunimitsu - would start preparing for their mid year exams.

It was nothing out the ordinary when the regular visitor, Wataru Suzuki from Aoyama High, came to support the team, mainly to the first year by the name of Echizen Ryoma. It seemed that he was fond of a particular freshman for some unknown reasons, in which the Regulars didn't have an interest into knowing.

Although the number of audience wasn't as great as the audience for the Nationals, still it was considered a lot more in contrast to the audience from the previous tournaments they had played so far. Many familiar faces could be seen amongst the audience. There were Fudomine High (by Kamio's word was "ought to keep an eye on Momoshiro"), St Rudolph (according to Fuji's itouto, Mizuki was there to spy on his so-called destined rivalry, Fuji Shuusuke), Yamabuki High (was there to hunt for beauties, especially Sengoku) as well as Hyoutei High (in which most people chose to ignore at the representative's speech "Ore no bigi support ni you na").

"Minna, let's not get overconfident now and..."

"Don't underestimate the strength the opponents bear with." the vice captain couldn't finish his sentence because the group had finished the sentence for him, which caused him to smile a little.

"In which we won't, Oishi-senpai." that very last sentence came from the youngest member, which caused Oishi as well as the group to smile. Like it was mentioned earlier, the more time the Regulars spent with Echizen, the more they understood his characters.

"Minna, yuudan sezu ni ikou!" this is the phrase that their captain, Tezuka, had always said before they started their game, and today was no exception.

* * *

The first game was played by Kaidoh-Momoshiro pair. At first they had some difficulties trying to return their opponents' balls and serves but later in the game the tables were turned with Seigaku now in the lead. Another half an hour or so later, it was Seigaku who won the first doubles match by 6-4.

After a small cheer over their first victory, the next pair was the Golden Pair, Kikumaru-Oishi pair. Remembering the advice given by his partner, Kikumaru played with all of his might. It was a tough game, according to the Golden Pair. Yet they managed to win against their tennis rival, Rikkaidai, but barely though, by 7-5. It was fortunate that the game won without going through the tiebreak, or his partner, Eiji, would have lost his stamina down to 0.05. That was the situation which Oishi didn't want to think of. It was true that Eiji was a cat in the tennis court but it was his weak stamina that couldn't support him in an extended game and that was very well known to his club members.

"One more. Just one more game and the victory will be ours!" true to Momoshiro's word, the victory would be theirs if Echizen won the next game in Single 3. "Oi, Echizen! You'd better win, or..." but Echizen was no longer beside him. Momoshiro scanned around his surrounding; still there was no sight of the first year.

"Mou, don't tell me he's gone for a drink? Doesn't he ever learn to bring his own?" those months with the rookie, everyone knew that every time there was a tournament, Echizen would rather buy a Ponta from the vending machine than bring of his own. Though only 2 people had noticed 2 differences: there was a Ponta on the bench where Echizen sat (and some had seen him drinking it a while ago) and where had that tennis tensai disappeared to?

It was then Mizuno Katsuo, one of Echizen's classmates who also joining the tennis club as him, saw the missing person approaching just in the nick of time.

"Ryoma-kun!"

"Oi, Echizen! Where'd you been?"

Instead of answering those questions shot by his teammates, Ryoma headed towards where his buchou and coach were.

"Buchou," the cap on Echizen's head was incredible low that there was no way to know what the expression the first year was wearing. "Nandemo nai." that last statement, 'It was nothing', made the Buchou think that there was something wrong with him today, but of what, was still unknown.

While Tezuka looked on to the young prodigy, the other members who didn't sense the sudden change in his attitudes cheered on the younger player.

" Echizen! Tanomuze!"

" Ikee, Echizen!"

" Ryoma-kun, ganbare!"

With that, began Singles 3.

--End of Chapter 4--

* * *

Glossary:  
Senpai: an upperclass student

Omoshiro: (how) interesting

Itouto: younger brother

Ore no bigi support ni you na: You should be awed by my graceful support

Minna: everyone/everybody

Yuudan sezu ni ikou: don't let your guards down

Tensai: genius

Buchou: captain

Tanomuze: literally mean "We place our (last) hope on you".

Ikee: a way of cheering to say "Go, Echizen, go!"

Ganbare: another way to cheer "you can win this"


	5. Chapter 5

--Recap--

A transfer student, Echizen Ryoma thought at first that he wouldn't play tennis in this new environment, but after meeting with the Regulars, everything had changed.

This new turning point began with with an irritable proposal by the Buchou of STC (Seigaku's Tennis Club), Tezuka Kunimitsu. If he, Echizen, could win against all his opponents from both inside and outside the club, then the consideration of his joining was off. However, it was Tezuka, an opponent who couldn't be beaten that easily, that ended up winning by 6-2. As a result, Echizen became one of the sole freshmen who successfully earned himself in a spot as one of the Regulars.

Seigaku had proved itself a strong and an unbeatable school as it had won against Fudomine High, St Rudolph, Yamabuki High and Hyoutei High as time flew by. And now, they came face to face with a toughest challenge of all, Rikkai Dai. So far, they had miraculously won both of the Doubles, but if they won another game in a Single, then there was no doubt that the Nationals were Seigaku's next destination.

However, just before it was Echizen's turn to play, Tezuka thought there was a little something odd to the prince of tennis today...

--Chapter 5--

There was definitely something wrong with Echizen, who was so unlike him to be not able to score a point, and it was now already in the 3rd game. This was surely not the Echizen they knew, but no one knew the reason of the sudden change.

"What's Echizen doing? Doesn't he realize that this is a very important game?" Horio, the so-called having 2 years tennis experience, almost cried out.

"Maybe he wants to test what strength Sanada (who Echizen was playing against with now) has... Yes, that must be it. He's testing Sanada's strength..." being as the closest friend amongst the group, Momoshiro was reasoning the possibility of Echizen scoring a love game, but his clenching fist said otherwise.

Everyone said nothing, but paid their attention to the first year, whose eyes were well hidden under the cap, still in the same state as when he came back from who knows where.

Ryoma wouldn't dare to face his teammates directly because he knew he would break down and cry if he did so. That was why he would rather hiding his feeling than making his new friends worried about him, as well as this was his problem, in which he was the only one who could solve it.

Memory of what happened earlier the day came to him as Ryoma served his ball...

--Flashback--

Sitting on the bench, Echizen's eyes were fixed on the game. It was a tough game, he realized. Worrying the Golden Pair would lose the game, Echizen kept drinking his favourite drink, Ponta, as if it would calmed him down but chocked himself the moment he looked up to meet the eyes of someone very familiar.

"Are you ok, Echizen?" seeing the little one couldn't stop coughing, Fuji asked in a worry tone, smile still hung on his face though. "Hora, that's what you get if you drink too quickly..." he left his sentence unfinished when he saw Ryoma wasn't listening to him. In order to know what made the young boy distracted, the tensai looked at the same direction and asked the rookie what he was looking at as there was no one at the opposite side.

"Iie, betsu ni..." that was the answer Fuji didn't believe in, but since Echizen didn't want to talk about it and neither there was someone suspicious, he let the younger boy be.

* * *

Seeing the person in front of him from the back, Ryoma knew that he had been caught and he didn't like this weavy feeling he was having right this moment now.

"Oyaji."

"How long have you been playing?" Echizen Nanjiroh, a former professional tennis player who now was a monk, still facing the front, asked. There was no subject asked, but Ryoma knew very well what his dad was referring to. Tennis.

"Ever since the school started."

"That long?" the elder Echizen's face stoned before continued saying. "Let's go home..."

"Iyada. Shiai wa mada." retorted back the youngest Echizen.

A cold wind blew past the two Echizens, who were eyeing each other, with one showing determination, while the other returning the eye.

"I'll go and inform that old woman that you're going home. With me." the father had made up his mind that he would bring his child back home no matter what, whether he liked it or not and sure enough, he received an objection.

"Tou-san!"

"Call me selfish if you want, Ryoma, but I'm not going to let you play, not after what happened to you last time." by the look on the child, who was clenching his collar with a trembling hand, the father softened his expression. He didn't mean to bring the past up but if it meant for the protection of his safety, then it was necessary.

"Let me do what a father should do. At least let me protect you, this time." this was the last word said by the father before he left and also was the word that pulled Ryoma back to reality.

--End of Flashback--

"Game! Sanada! 4-0! Change court!" as soon as the referee announced this, the Regulars rushed to the first year, who was heading to the bench.

"Echizen, what the hell are you doing?! Be serious at least once, won't you?" everyone tried to stop Momoshiro, who played tennis in strength, from murdering Echizen, who still had a game to play.

"Momo, calm down..."

"Don't you know how important this game is?" Momoshiro barked at Echizen, who still refused to look up. "Don't you know this will be the last game for Tezuka-buchou, Oishi-senpai, Fuji-senpai, Eiji-senpai, Inui-senpai and Taka-san if we lose this tournament?" when Echizen remained silent, the patience Momoshiro had grew thinner. He couldn't believe that Echizen would be that selfish. He actually thought that Echizen wasn't a bad person during those hanging up with them period.

"You want the senpai-tachi to stop playing that badly, is that it?

"Fshh, violence won't do much help, you know."

"I can't believe you're such a selfish brat."

"Does it really matter? Does it really matter who's winning or losing?" everyone looked on when Echizen started talking. "Which is more important? Winning a game or being able to play?" they were shock, but not because Echizen refused to looked up, but because of his tone.

"I want senpai-tachi to quit playing, you've said, so you think you understand me that much?" Ryoma paused before continuing on. "Don't be a bull, Momo-senpai. You don't understand me, not at all..." the Regulars didn't take notice of the clenching fist as they were too busy paralzying at the word said. "Not even the feeling I have now."

"So, are you saying that you want to quit the club?" Ryuzaki-sensei was the one who interrupted, and everyone was shocked at the news. Quitting? Echizen wanted to quit? Why would he want to quit for? Momoshiro wanted to confirm that with Echizen, but was halted by their Buchou.

No further word was being said after that. It was a silence of confirming Ryuzaki-sensei's suspicious.

"Echizen, I don't know what your dad had told you just now, but there's one thing I know of, and that's you like tennis more than any one of us here."

"And you're not the type of person who would give up that easily." came a new voice. It was Wataru Suzuki, the very same person whom Echizen first played with.

"I can't believe the one I'm seeing now is the same person who had beaten me up." Echizen looked up, trying to retort back the remark made by Fuji Yuuta.

"I see. This is Echizen's true self. A coward. A weakling..." began Ibu Shinji of Fudomine High.

"Prove it then." Hiyoshi Wakashi of Hyoutei High also joining in when Echizen was in denial of his said situation, who spoke a surprise 'what' after hearing such request. "Prove it to us that you're not as weak as we thought."

Out of the group gathering around Echizen, only Ryuzaki-sensei knew why Echizen was still in hesitation before she decided to cut in.

"Echizen, why did you agree to become one of our members? The reason is more than that Tezuka wants you to become the pillar of the school's tennis club, isn't it?" Ryuzaki-sensei took the silence as affirmation. She had a thought on the reason for it, yet she wasn't going to tell others that.

As if on cue, the referee approached to the group indicated that the break was over. Everyone paid their attention back to Echizen, who hadn't speak a word since then, while Ryuzaki-sensei nodded to the referee to indicate that she had received his message.

"Echizen, it doesn't matter whether you're winning or losing, as long as you do your best." it was buchou who was the first to speak.

"Yeah, and we won't blame you for losing the game, nya." chirped in Kikumaru, always the optimistic one and always the one who forgave-and-forgot easily.

"You do know that we are your friends and will always be there for you when you need it, right?" Oishi didn't even to bother to stop Kikumaru from being hyper or rude.

"You and us, friends forever!" burnt in Kawamura, who pronounced the 'forever' wrongly.

"Echizen," Kaidoh tossed a tennis ball over before continuing on. "We won't forgive you if you continue on like that."

"Don't you dare mess up my data on you." warned Inui. "Or you'll have to drink that all that in one breath." and everyone followed where his finger pointed to. It was a huge bottle of a little mix of every colour beverage, which could be an experimental thing still or could be the drink of the day... or maybe both.

Instead of giving speeches, Fuji gave a smile after placing his hand on the golden eyed freshman's shoulder as a gesture of encouragement.

Momoshiro, however, who chose to do nothing like what his senpai-tachi did or said, instead he turned his head away. The club members weren't surprised at this though because they knew he was hurt, hurt by Echizen's new attitude.

* * *

In a distance not far away from the court, Echizen Nanjiroh had witnessed the entire scene. He thought he did the right thing, but now he wasn't sure.

"I know you love Ryoma very much, Nanjiroh, but 'it' isn't over yet." the person continued after receiving a silent. "And I know you want to make up of what you failed to do last time."

"Those kids, they're Ryoma's first friends, aren't they?" having focusing on his son, the once called 'Samurai' asked.

"Yes, they are." the person understood his concern for his only child. "But he still keeps his distance though."

"Do you think I did the right thing, by keeping him away from tennis?"

Ryuzaki-sensei looked at her past student sternly. "I know what you're thinking of, Nanjiroh, but we can't always be there for him, can we? We can't control things that are beyond our reach, especially when things like you know what. Furthermore, it's Ryoma that has to overcome his problem on his own, and we are there only to guide and help him." by now, she too had her focus on the same person Nanjiroh had focus on.

"It's now or never, Nanjiroh, and I'm sure he's aware of that. Very well in fact."

* * *

While on the other side of the court, Momoshiro let his anger by practicing tennis against the wall.

"Yappari na." ignoring the person behind him, Momoshiro kept on practicing, but stopped after several shots.

"Aren't you going to ask anything, Fuji-senpai?"

The third year smiled as usual.

"You know me too well, Momo, but that's because we've known each other for 2 years. Do you know that everyone has their own past? I have a brother, who I wish could have attended the same school as me. Oishi and Eiji weren't on good terms until they had first paired up. Inui started collecting his data because he wanted to beat me and Tezuka. Taka-san is stopping next year because he wants to concentrate more on making sushi. You and Kaidoh became rivals at first sight, and Tezuka is the most mysterious of all. I wonder what could make him smile..."

"What's your point, Fuji-senpai?" cut in Momoshiro, who didn't care of being rude to his senpai at all.

"We never heard Echizen talking about his past, neither did he answer our questions." seeing that he wouldn't receive an answer, Fuji rattled on. "I'm very sure that Echizen has his own reasons for doing so, don't you think? But whatever it is, I think it hurts him badly, and to his family." Fuji stole a glance at Momoshiro. "It's a shock to think that he would play a game like today. That's so unlike him, ne? Also, that tone of his voice just now, too foreign if you're asking me." Fuji took a short breath.

"Maybe Ryuzaki-sensei was right about Echizen that he wanted to quit. You know how he objected about joining the club from the very beginning." ensured that this had gotten Momoshiro's attention, Fuji spoke of his point. "Things are to be taken one at a time, Momo. Echizen's just about to be getting close to us, opening to us..."

"He's part of the team, as well as our friend, Momoshiro." cut in a new yet so familiar voice. It was their buchou, Tezuka, who for some reason joined the pair.

"We're here to support for one and another, aren't we?"

"Either friends or enemies."

"And that's what Echizen needs right now. Our support, and your support especially."

--End of Chapter 5--

* * *

Glossory:  
Buchou: captain

Hora: see? It can also used as "I told you so"

Tensai: genius

Ii, betsu ni: no, it's nothing

Tou-san: more polite way of saying 'oyaji', which means dad

Iyada: (I) don't wanna or don't want to

Shiai wa mada: the game's not yet finished

Senpai: senior or an upperclass, whichever suit you

Sensei: refer to a teacher in this case

Yappari na: just as I thought


	6. Chapter 6

-- Chapter 6 --

Momoshiro ran, hoping to make to the court in time. How could he be so stupid? He was the closest to Echizen, wasn't he? How could he not think of that?

-- Flashback --

"That is what Echizen exactly needs just now. Our support and your support, Momoshiro."

Momoshiro's head looked up to meet the Buchou's glance.

"Yes, your support, Momo. You're the person who changed him."

Having Fuji saying that, flashes of the past flowed to Momoshiro. Flashes of how he kept bugging Echizen and how he never gave Echizen a chance to be left alone. Flashes of him dragging his kouhai to street tennis for a match, or just a simple hang out with the team members. Flashes of how he kept teasing the boy when they learnt of how the kid disliked being caught in the camera, yet was being protective exactly like the rest of the members, of their youngest member that when Echizen said 'no', it meant 'no' for taking photographs. It was then Momoshiro realized that how right both Fuji-senpai and Tezuka-buchou were. That was why he had asked them about the score and why he was running now.

-- End of Flashback --

* * *

"15-0!" if Sanada of Rikkai Dai won his service game, then there was no doubt that the victory would be theirs.

Among the audience, Seigaku was even more worried than when the game played where Tezuka played against the Buchou of Hyoutei, Atobe Keigo. Most of the Regulars gritted their teeth (till the lips whitened), or clenched their fists (till knuckles whitened), or cried on their partners' shoulder, whereas Echizen stood there, motionless.

"30-0!"

"40-0!"

"This is the end for you, Seigaku."

"No, it's not!" it seemed that Momoshiro had reached in the nick of time, and the name he cried out had just proven it.

"Echizen!" and something was thrown to the said boy. Wasn't that... Ponta? His usual drink? And there was something else written underneath that can, which said...

"Mada mada da ne, Echizen." after saying that, the smile on Momoshiro earned a smile from Echizen.

* * *

If it wasn't for Momoshiro and that Ponta, there was no way that Echizen would have been able to turn the tables around and with now Echizen on the lead. At the match point, to be exact.

"Mada mada da ne." with that, Echizen scored his last point. It seemed that Seigaku was able to make it to the Nationals after all and that was why the group was cheering for the prodigy, Momoshiro and not forgetting, Ponta.

"I'm glad to be your opponent, Echizen." Sanada Genichiro of Rikkaidai had no shame over his loss to the first year, but to warn them that his team wouldn't lose in their next game twice. "We'll be looking forward to it."

After a handshake, both Echizen and Sanada parted and turned to where their teammates were.

"Ochibi, just next time, don't you scare us like that ever!" although Kikumaru said that, he still congratulated their Ochibi anyways.

By this time, Ryoma knew that he had no longer a way out, yet neither would he regret on his decision.

* * *

"You have just put yourself into a deepest mess in your life, senpai-tachi." was said once they had won the 3 consecutive winning for the match against Rikkai Dai last month by Echizen. Neither one understood what he meant by that and that foreign friend of their Ochibi, Kevin Smith, wasn't helping either. Kevin Smith was an old friend of Ryoma back in United State, who he never told the regulars about having a friend, a foreigner friend more precisely. It was quite an interesting meeting though, to come and think about it.

-- Flashback --

It was an ordinary day for the usual group of 9 walking home together. For some reason, Tezuka, who didn't socialize that much, joined them.

"Is anyone up for a game?" since it was Momoshiro who was the first to suggest it and since no one against it, they were now on their way to the street tennis courts where they often met up with other schools. However, to their astonishment, a game was played there. St Rudolph and a gaijin.

"What was that, nya?" Kikumaru Eiji frantically high jumped when that gaijin served his last ball.

"It's my first time to see a serve like that..." Kaidoh Kaoru spoke up the thoughts the club members had in their minds but only a particular first year said nothing, neither showed his expression.

"Game and match. 6-1." since there was no referee to judge the game they played, it was themselves who had to announce the score and they had chosen the gaijin. "Ore no kachi." then without any warning, the gaijin served the tennis ball backward and when the regulars realized who he was targeting to, they warned in a yell.

"Echizen/Abunai!" yet the hit never came because Echizen somehow had her racquet held out when the distance of the ball came closer to an inch.

"Oi, how was it, my 'White Tiger'?"

"What? 'Wine' Tiger?" it seemed that Momoshiro needed to improve his English.

"It's 'White Tiger' Momo, not 'Wine Tiger'..." at least the third years had understood what was being said in English.

"It's 'Haku-tora' in Japanese term." of course Ryoma knew. He had once lived in United States, after all.

"Haku-tora..." a thought popped up from Kikumaru's brain. "Fuji! Fuji! We found your otoutou! He's just right here!" and he wiped out the tears from the back of his hand, saying 'How touching. A reunion between brothers' causing the group to fall from their feet with a pretty loud thud.

'Just because the names of their shots were similar doesn;t mean that they are blood related' was in everybody's mind.

Soon a short introduction was made. That gaijin, who Kikumaru had mistaken to be Fuji's 'little brother', was Kevin Smith, a friend of a certain ichinen by the name of Echizen. To them, it was unexpected that he wasn't going to stop Kevin, who brought up his life in United State to the remaining 8, neither did he show any annoyance, the expression he wore when Wataru Suzuki of Aoyama High popped up to the group from who knows where.

-- End of Flashback --

The tennis club members of Seishun Gakuen could also sense that there was something that neither one that pair of friends wasn't telling of. For example...

-- Flashback --

"Ne, Ochibi." it was a usual training session for the tennis club. "Why did you start wearing a hat? It's not like you're bald or something..."

Echizen stiffened at the question asked by Kikumaru-senpai, which almost no one seemed to pay attention to. "Betsu ni." was his only reply while pulling his hat even lower at the same time as Kikumaru barged about 'that isn't an answer, nya' and began to shoot more questions to the poor rookie, whose Fuji's stern glance was focused on.

It was true to Kikumaru's question that ever since they had won their first tournament against St Rudolph (and a group photo was taken by Shiba-san of Monthly Magazine later that day), the same hat Echizen was wearing now had never left his head, not even during the practice session nor when hanging out with them. Although it was nothing out of ordinary, yet to Fuji, being observant as always, knew that there must be something that caused Echizen to wear it.

-- End of Flashback --

-- Another flashback --

" Yo! What's up?" Kevin Smith was a regular visitor, next to Wataru Suzuki, to Seigaku. And since both Echizen and the Regulars couldn't care less about the addition of the new member, the 10 teens walked their way to home after practice one fine day.

"... Man, you should've seen it. It was just too hilarious." when Echizen didn't laugh at the so called hilarious tale, Kevin immediately knew there was something off. "What's been bothering you? Tell me."

"It's nothing." was Echizen's reply, who gave up when Kevin gave him a warning tone along with a serious glance. "Ok, I'll tell... BUT I need you to make promise that you won't yell."

* * *

Some few feet ahead from the 2 youngsters, the Regulars just being themselves: the same usual fighting between Momoshiro and Kaidoh; the same poor Tezuka couldn't escape from the sadist Fuji; the same Inui commenting on some invented experiments which shivered Kawamura, the listener; and the same hyper Kikumaru chirped with his partner Oishi about some new fish species he saw the other day until a loud 'what?' interrupted them. Turning back, they shot questioning glances to the pair.

Hands on Kevin's mouth, Echizen shook his head saying it was nothing as important before turning and gritting his teeth at the betraying friend. The answer, however, wasn't convincing enough to the Regulars as the two unmatched friends acted even more suspicious.

-- End of Flashback --

"What is this thing you're trying to hide, Echizen?" even though Echizen did hang out with them, still Fuji could sense that there was an invisible barrier around the first year.

"When will you be open to us?" Fuji sighed and it didn't go unnoticed by the captain.

"You've been sighing quite a lot lately."

"Saa..." Fuji replied with a smile, as always.

"If you're worry about Echizen, just said so." and Fuji followed where Tezuka had paid attention to - Echizen, who was partnering with Momoshiro in today's practice.

"Ne, Tezuka. Have you ever wondered why Echizen dislikes being inside the photographs?"

"The reasons can be various, Fuji." Tezuka turned to Fuji, who was thinking what could be the reason. "He'll tell us when the time comes, so don't be in the rush AND don't complicate things." with that, Tezuka left.

"'When the time comes ka'..."

Though never had it occurred to both Fuji and Tezuka that when that time came was the day the impact would fall on them fatally.

-- End of Chapter 6 --

* * *

Glossary:  
Kouhai: a lowerclass student

Senpai: a senior

Buchou: captain

Mada mada da ne: you've still have lots more to work on

-Tachi: in plural. Eg: Senpai-tachi means seniors

Gaijin: a foreigner

Ore no kachi: I won / the victory's mine...

Abunai: watch out / look out

Otoutou: little brother

Ichinen: first year (student)

Betsu ni: (it's) nothing

Ka: in this case means 'is it'. There are many ways to use this expression, eg: 'Sou ka' can refer to "is that so?" or be mean "oh, I see".

* * *

Cdgal: Those flashbacks are very important, as to why, I'll reveal them in the future chapters. Actually, I've thought of expanding them in a chapter, but I don't know where to put between this chapter and the next chapter. That's just won't work. So after many considerations, I've decided to add flashback.

Ok, maybe most of you might confuse about the attitudes of Ryoma's and Kevin's and their low profile conversations. You can consider this is a sneak peek on what's going on in the next chapter. It occurred during the period where Echizen starting to get all pitchy. If you don't like that idea, then you can consider these 6 chapters were all in flashbacks and that Chapter 7 was the real thing.


	7. Chapter 7

--Chapter 7--

Since the practice for the day had, for some reason, been cancelled, that made it another day for a free period for the regulars but it turned out to be that Momoshiro and Echizen were the only ones available for having a lunch. Count off the Top 1 and 2 in tennis because from what Momoshiro heard from one of Tezuka-buchou's classmates when he went to look for him, he had a so-called promised date with Fuji-senpai. According to Inui-senpai, he was to finalize this drink he had prepared for the next practice session, at which Momoshiro sped off as quick as possible. Taka-san, on the hand, was occupied at his dad's sushi restaurant where it was short of assistance; while the Golden Pair was long gone before the invitation, probably at some aquarium with Eiji-senpai practically dragging Oishi-senpai along; and as for Mamushi, where else could he be, but at some park practicing his serves and shots?

"... So, what do you think?" after exiting from X-Burger, a fast food restaurant where the pair had lunch at, Momoshiro asked his companion whether or not he should buy the Nike shoes he saw a couple days ago. Curious as to why there wasn't any response, the aggressive baseliner player looked back, only to discover that his kouhai was nowhere in sight. Soon after giving a small search on where could Echizen been, he found what he'd been looking for... and the next thing he did was to wonder why the quiet boy was searching so frantically and so pale. Had he been seeing things? In the sea of the crowd?

"...zen! Echizen!!" the sophomore could sense that Ryoma was startled by his call. So he asked his concern whether or not he was alright.

"Yeah, I'm ok..." noticing there was a hint of concern in the expression, Echizen gave his senpai reassurance, and hoped that he would buy the reassurance he hadn't convince himself with. Acting as if there wasn't anything of importance, he urged the doubting senpai to go ahead, while he himself took the same moment to steal one last glance back at the busy crowd.

Later that night everybody was sleeping soundlessly in their beds, with the exception of one person in Echizen residence who tossed and turned on his bed.

* * *

Morning came quickly and without everyone's knowledge, it was time for another routine in the practice session. Running laps. Since today's laps were nothing more than just a usual warming up, a conversation made its first stir in the regulars, with Momoshiro the first to speak.

"Ne, Fuji-senpai. How was your date yesterday?" Momoshiro asked with a knowing smile, ignoring the groan from the Buchou. Of course he knew when there was a date involving with a certain tensai; the date wasn't merely a plain date anymore but was more of blackmailing from the person who was known as a sadist.

"Oh, it was splendid Momo. Why? You wanna date me as well?" the same usual smile on Fuji's face didn't change a bit when his answer to the question was a violent shake on the head, before commenting how pity that was.

The conversation carried on in that particular group, in which Echizen paid no heed to. He, in fact, had something else in his mind, like hoping that it was his eyes playing tricks on him on what he saw yesterday after having lunch. Yet there came the same urge to stop his pace like yesterday, which she didn't know why, but he did it anyway before sharply scanning his surrounding.

"Oh, and one reminder. The last one to reach the finish line will be drinking Inui Super Deluxe Tea." out of the distance from the court, Inui who had been waiting for the chance to have someone try on his latest invention, called out. Only then did Echizen realized he was 5 feet behind, and instantly he knew that he needed to catch up and fast.

* * *

"Here." Echizen stared blindly at the green tea reaching out to him. One second. He was one second late. Damn that one second. And damn that Inui-senpai for being that accurate. Life was so unfair. Why would he deserve this one hell of punishment when this uneasy feeling came and visited him unexpectedly? Reluctantly accepting his punishment, Echizen unconsciously drowned himself into his little own world, kindly forgetting that there were many eyes transfixed on him.

"...zen! Echizen!!" thanks to Momoshiro's sudden call, Echizen let his punishment slip through his palm, thus resulting in a 'ding' and smashed glass scattering around on the ground. He could still feel that he was in the center of the heated staring from his team members under his cap.

A nod was given when Echizen was asked for his concern from the same person who called his name earlier. But in Fuji's mind, he knew something was troubling the little junior. Having been clueless on what caused the sudden attitude, the third year student could only lay his curiosity aside as the youngest member wouldn't either confess or share his troubles to them, his own teammates. Looking beyond the concerning prince, the meeting of eyes with Tezuka told him that it was only the two of them who took notice of what the others hadn't, and that today's Echizen wasn't the usual Echizen they knew.

* * *

For the next days or so, to say the new attitude in Echizen wasn't noticeable was an understatement. Ever since that day most of the Regulars made a mental note to themselves that Echizen had been jumpy and dazed more than usual. He had been caught redhanded many times by both his class teachers and the club's members. That mentioned day, from what the Regulars had learned from Momoshiro, Fuji and Oishi, happened from exactly a couple days ago when...

"Tadaima..." was the first thing Echizen said when he got home, while Momoshiro couldn't help himself awing at the size of the house. Not many people Momoshiro met in his Seigaku life lived in a temple nor had a chance to take a step inside until now.

Not minding of the non-feedback from the house, Echizen, who should be the host he was supposed to be, didn't bother to host his guest but made his own way into the living room and called for Karupin, the family cat. Receiving another silence from his cat, who the first year thought it might be sleeping upstairs on his bed, and so he thought he might just read a letter that was meant for him, which he had taken from the letter box earlier on.  
Having taken a trip around the house, Momoshiro returned to the living room, still in awe. However, before he could take another step inside, he was alarmed at what he saw. The pale face of Echizen. The face was so pale that it was as if the boy had met a ghost.

"Echizen, are you ok?" Momoshiro asked with concern, thinking whether he had chosen the wrong time to show up. A snap from the kouhai told him that he hadn't been aware of him being inside the same room as he was when all his focus was in his hand. After asking him his worry, what he got for his reply was a faint reply of 'it's nothing' and a piece of paper being thrown on the floor. As dense as he could be, Momoshiro decided it was time for him to return home as the time almost struck 5pm, not realizing the truth behind the odd behavior in his best friend.

Instead of waving a goodbye like what Momoshiro did before he departed, Echizen took one final glance at the crumpled letter and marched himself out to the door.

* * *

"Good evening," revealed a Momoshiro at the Echizen residence when Nanako, the cousin of the young Echizen, answered the door bell. Just minutes ago, as soon as Momoshiro got back to his residence, he remembered just in time that he left his bag at the Echizen's, and thereby went back to retrieve it after slapping himself for his stupidity.

"Who's at the door, Nanako-chan?" a monk abruptly showed up from nowhere asking, while the sophomore was in the middle of defining the purpose of his revisit.

"Momoshiro Takeshi desu. Yoroshiku." Momoshiro introduced himself. From there, he concluded that this monk must be where Echizen had gotten his trait from, when his response was no more than just a 'ah, sou' from the older Echizen, who later hopped away. Not knowing why, something in the back of his mind told Momoshiro to ask about the ichinen and just before he could do so, a door bell interrupted him rudely. As it turned out to be...

"Oishi-senpai? Fuji-senpai?"

"Momo?" it had appeared that Momoshiro hadn't thought of his senpais turning up nor had his senpais thought of him to be. Though for Nanako, it was a surprise for her that she couldn't help pondering: since when was Ryoma-kun so popular? 3 visitors in one day and all were asking for the particular Echizen.

It didn't take long for both the third years to hear what Momoshiro had to say, so when it was their time to be asked, Fuji was the one who did the explanation.

"I believe this belongs to him." the 'this' Fuji referring to, as true as it seem, was a certain Himalayan cat being tucked under Oishi's warmth of embrace. Even with the cousin calling "Karupin!", there was no mistake that this cat they found wandering at the school's campus was indeed Echizen's.

"Oi, Echizen! You're cat's here!" remembering Echizen was once searching for it, Momoshiro gave an earful of yell.

"Boy, if you're looking for the kid, he's not in. So don't yell." instead of the little Echizen, it was the same monk, annoyed by the yell, reentered with the same pose Momoshiro had seen for the second time, two hands inside his robe. He was startled, not because of the pose but of what he had heard, and was even more startled at the following sentence being said.

"Probably too drown in the date 'til he forgets it's time to get home..." commented the father, who thought Ryoma was currently having a date with a girl whom he refused to tell about.

"But, Echizen was with me. We were in the house since 5." Momoshiro put on his courage to reason after Fuji sensed the doubt the friend had.

"I'm sorry, Momoshiro-kun. We were home since 5 and the house was already left emptied..." seeing no sign of Echizen's shoes, Momoshiro comprehended that the cousin wasn't telling lies. Yet something didn't add up, at least to him it hadn't.

"The letter." Momoshiro, unusually cracked his mind until one thought came across him, said. "There was some kind of letter, for Echizen I think, that was thrown on the ground." He then explained telling how pale Echizen was after reading the letter and received the reassurance there wasn't any matter when he asked his friend about it.

Having a moment of silence later, the elder Echizen suddenly sprung as if recalling something. If the hint was on the floor, then the key must be that thing, which he thought the kid was making rubbish in the living room, and therefore...

Curious at her oji-san's sudden flight, Nanako followed, with the 3 visitors at her trail. To the bin, they saw the father dive into, who was no sooner crying for victory after creating several messes on the ground. Even from where the four standing, they could feel the rage within the father while he was reading at the paper, with no time to waste.

"Nanako, call Ryuzaki." detecting the change in her uncle, Nanako promptly did what she'd been told. The usual Nanjiroh she knew would have nicknamed her, Nanako-chan, or old woman for Ryuzaki-sensei, so when ojisan called neither but by names, that would mean something wasn't right. Something must have happened to Ryoma-kun.

"You two, search the park." pointing at Oishi-senpai and Fuji-senpai, the older Echizen instructed, then to Momoshiro. "And you, come with me." soon after being urged there wasn't time to lose, the search party was on... but it had been cut short because the young Echizen eventually came into view as all four rushed through the front door.

Ignoring the call for him, Ryoma refused to lift his head up that was until a 'meow' was heard. Casting around, he finally met the source. It was his pet, Karupin, waggling its tail, also was the same reason he was out in the first place.

Watching the hugging his son and the cat had in front, all the anger, all the anxiety was no longer in Echizen Nanjiroh's mind for his only child was safe and sound. After today's event, did the father realize something had to be done but couldn't be accomplished if he was on his own. It was by means that Ryuzaki-sensei needed to know what happened.

--End of Chapter 7--

* * *

Glossary:  
Mamushi: viper

Senpai: a senior

Buchou: captain

Tadaima: i'm home

Desu: in this case means "(I'm) Momoshiro Takeshi"

Yoroshiku: nice to meet you

Ah, sou: "I see" in uninterested way

Ichinen: first year student

* * *

Cdgal: many Japanese use greeting like "tadaima", "okaeri nasai" or "ittekimasu", "itterasai". "Tadaima" is used when they returned from school and work and to greet back the phrase, use "Okaeri nasai", which means "Welcome home"; whereas "ittekimasu" can have 2 meanings: first is "I'll be going off to work/school/any place you can to be at", and second is used before eating or drinking. And "itterasshai" means "have a pleasant day".

In addition, the 'kun', 'chan' and 'san' are the suffix names. For someone who's around your age and is closest to you can use 'kun' (for male) or 'chan' (for female); but 'san', on the other hand, is used for someone superior (and for both genders). It's more polite than the previous suffixes.


	8. Chapter 8

--Chapter 8--

"Echizen's been acting weird, you say?" the Regulars, including the ichinen trio were in the room having a discussion with the coach on what had been happening recently. The only person that wasn't in sight among the group was the subject at hand, a first year rookie who went by the name Echizen Ryoma.

The Buchou wore his usual expression, as to agree in a nod. Had he wanted to be a master of disguise wasn't as important as the matter at hand. Ryuzaki-sensei gave a little thought: Was this related to what Nanjiroh had requested? She was curious already when she received a phone call earlier from the father of the prince of tennis, Echizen Nanjiroh, aka Samurai Nanjiroh, which was highly unusual because the father wasn't the type of person who would make the first phone call. What was even more curious was that the request he asked for her to look after his only son.

"Who was the person to last see Echizen?" asked the coach feeling that that little piece of information given might be the answer to her puzzle.

"We were." neither the coach nor the Regulars had expected that the answer would come from the ichinen trio. Even Momoshiro was skeptical to the answer as he thought it would be he himself. It shocked them more when Horio added on.

"But that was after Inui-senpai."

Half of the stares from the Regulars' fixed on Inui, while the other half - Tezuka, Kawamura, Kikumaru and Kaidoh - exchanged glances. By the look of it, they knew something Oishi, Fuji, Momoshiro and Ryuzaki-sensei didn't, so the coach demanded some answers from the knowing 3 seniors and the sophomore. It was revealed that Inui had been helping them at the court, which meant the Inui the ichinen group saw wasn't the real Inui at all. If that wasn't him, then who was it?

"Horio! Are you sure it was Inui you saw yesterday?" snapped Ryuzaki-sensei, slowly realizing that the last piece of information was possibly true, but she hoped for it not to be. Unfortunately, the more of the description was given, the more she was confirmed her thought of being affirmative.

No one, in the faculty room, except Ryuzaki-sensei, learnt the secret the Echizens held. Very true it was for every description given matched with Inui, the data man, yet no one could lead them to the door of the truth as Inui himself denied the ichinen saw was really him.

"Ah, wait a minute." remembering, Inui who took a Sports Weekly Magazine out from his bag, flipped through it. " If my assumption's correct, the person whom they had met would have been..."

* * *

Echizen Ryoma was in a state of despair. He was anxious and clueless on what he was supposed to do. Having neither a solution nor the advice or whatsoever, the golden eyed prodigy sat solely on the bench, depressed over the meeting yesterday. The scene, as he recalled, did no good. Rather it was the beginning of his nightmare becoming reality.

Ryoma had been worried. Worried for his pet, Karupin, as the letter written was under the writer's captive. He didn't know who the sender was as it signed anonymously and therefore he went off and investigated. Only then it appeared to be someone he didn't expect to meet. Someone who he thought it was impossible to have the person stand in the soil of a foreign land; also was impossible of existing right in front of him. That someone was none other than Tanabe Frances Heart.

"Nice seeing you again," the first year was surprised by what the Tanabe guy had said. How would have he seen through his disguise, he didn't want to know, but there was one thing he knew was that he needed to maintain his calmness in order not to show any sign of nervousness. Much to his dismay, his nerves began to crack one by one once he heard him addressing him 'Ryoma-chan.'

To think he would give himself up that easily was an understatement, not if he still had a chance to pretense. Ryoma courageously corrected the guy his mistake, but how unlucky he was, Tanabe didn't fall for it. Rather he forced the said ichinen taking a few steps backwards, while he took his advance stepping forwards. Under a hard threatening stare, Ryoma knew he wasn't in the luck's favor. The freshman mentally cursed, ignoring his own sarcasm, of the effort he put himself into.

"What do you want?" Ryoma had asked. Two claps on the hands, to his surprise, was what he earned for the courage he put on.

"I like it. I like your attitude." Tanabe grinned even wider, flashing his bars of clean white teeth. "But is that how you treat your old neighbor? No greeting, or even a warm hug?"

Ryoma, of course wasn't in the joking mood, so he repeated the question more sternly this time. As it appeared to be that he was proposing something. A condition was to stay with him for his upcoming yet ultimate game. He could turn it down, but with Tanabe's threatening, he couldn't do so. He wouldn't allow him to harm any of his new friends nor his family, not after how they had helped him out in many ways.

Even with Kachiro, Katsuro and Horio coming in cue to rescue Echizen, asking who he was speaking to, they couldn't help him to resolve the proposal that was left by the tall figure. What made it even crueler was that he now had gotten another half day time to consider.

* * *

"Him." said Inui in trumped, who was showing the page where he had stopped flipping at. It was a picture of Inui, but in more of fairer skin, and with spikier hair.

"Tanabe Frances Heart. Age 20. Father's an American. Mother's Japanese. Became a pro 2 years ago." while Inui gave out the profile of the 'twin' Inui, Fuji was the only one who caught a glimpse of the paling on Ryuzaki-sensei's face, as it went as quick as it came.

"Is he here? In Japan?"

"No, I don't think so. If he was, there should be a 99.9 chance that the news should be all over the tabloids and newspaper by now. Yet, so far, there aren't any."

Consuming that thought inside, the tennis coach mutely agreed. After rearranging some of her thoughts, she stood up and asked Tezuka to take care of the club while she had an emergency to attend to.

"Ryuzaki-sensei." and Fuji chose the exact moment, when the coach prepared to make herself an exit, to speak for the first time today. "Do you know this Tanabe Frances Heart?" How typical of the senior to dare to question at the time like this, especially when they knew Ryuzaki-sensei wouldn't give any of them the truth. For now.

"Iie, chotto." if no one had sense the hiding the truth from the coach before, then they should have by now because the body language and the reaction, a hesitation and panicking eyes, were the hardest things to forge.

"Sou ka." there were so many reasons to have Fuji smile. One was how he preferred to watch others suffered in many different ways, such as loving people drinking one of Inui's so called healthy drinks, or being blackmailed by him. In short, he loved being a sadist. Fuji smiling was one thing, but to wipe off that smile was another thing. It was much worse than drinking the creations that Inui added up together. In a more appropriate way, it was the call of a death wish. That was how it happened to Fuji after the door shut: his smile died away but he left his sapphire eyes snapped open dangerously.

* * *

"Echizen's definitely hiding something." this statement of truth was stated by the mother hen of Seigaku, Oishi. The Regulars, Inui included, were running a quarter of the required laps. There wasn't anyone who dared to ditch the practice, except for one in the Regulars' spot. Even Tezuka had nothing to say to against it. How and what was he, the captain, supposed to say? Order Echizen to run more laps? Or ordered the youngster to spit out his problems?

"But forcing him isn't going to be useful." Momoshiro reasoned. His reasoning wasn't wrong since he was the one closest to Echizen among the Regulars. Meaning that he should know himbetter than anyone else.

"Are you suggesting that we should mind our own business?" his rival, Kaidoh, retorted back. Of course he wouldn't like himself not to participate in the conversation, especially when Momoshiro was right about Echizen.

"Why you!" now that just absolutely, definitely, obviously, positively and undeniably verified a truth about a power house and a snake didn't make a good mixture after all.

"Kaidoh, Momoshiro. Extra 30 laps after this." ordered Tezuka-buchou, whose outcome was a 'che' and 'sshh' from the rivals simultaneously. What good did they get if adding 30 laps of punishment to 20 laps of warming up?

"Even Ryuzaki-sensei refuses to tell us." Kawamura himself admittedly feeling quite lonely without Echizen here messing around in the court. No Echizen meant no racquet for him to set into burning mode, which also meant they had lost the simulator to have them fastened their paces.

"How about Kevin Smith?" Kikumaru, who didn't like the feeling of being an outcast, pointed out an suggestion.

"That won't do either. He's been as tight as Ryuzaki-sensei." Inui had to disagree to Kikumaru's suggestion from his aspect of his secret source. Nothing or no one had managed to pry that little notebook out from his little fingers, not even during the lap running.

"Any last hope?"

"How about Inui?" that statement was made by Fuji, who hadn't spoken a word ever since they had left from the faculty room.

"Inui-senpai? What's that got to do with..." only then, Momoshiro understood.

"Sou ka, the Inui double!! Ta, Ta..." caught on Kikumaru, but he seemed to have forgotten the name.

"Tanabe Frances Heart."

"Yeah, that Tanabe guy..." Momoshiro had his sentence uncompleted. Just a minute. Who said that? It couldn't be Oishi-senpai, because his tone wasn't that low and neither was Kikumaru-senpai's, because the optimist never had such seriousness in his tone; Could it be Taka-san? Nope, it wasn't him because the source to practice his English - tennis racquet - wasn't in his possession. Mamushi? Nah, but he did truly wish how good it would be if that viper was at the back, rather than on the same line as he was. Inui-senpai? It wasn't him as well, because... Just because. As for Fuji-senpai... No! He wished not to think about it. But if that was the case, everyone on earth would have gone off to Pluto in less than a second. So that left...

"What?" twitching the captain when he felt 14 staring eyes fall on him, and so feeling a little irritated, he gave whosoever-had-the-problem-with-that-run-extra-50-laps look. Almost instantly, all resumed back on their running.

* * *

"Now, where's that fountain?" since the members were given a 10 minute break, Fuji, who decided to sip some water out from the fountain, went searching. He 'ah ha'ed when he spotted one after turning the corners here and there.

"There you are."

Fuji rose from his drinking position. Curious at who was saying it, he scanned through the surrounding, but no one was in sight. At first he thought it was his hearing that was playing trick on him, but then the chance of that happening was very low. He decided to take a peek from the nearest bush. Wasn't that Ryuzaki-sensei and... Echizen?

"Ryuzaki-sensei." so he had no flaw in hearing after all. But then what were they doing there, and out of sight no less? Now Fuji must chose whether or not to follow his curiousity that led him having the risk of being caught or to stop digging people's secret out...

"Don't worry. It's only a rumour of him being here." yet the conversation they were having seemed interesting enough, the sadist thought in dilemma. Then no sooner than a second, it had been decided that it was the curiousity side that had won. The catch, however, was surprisingly unexpected even from himself that the more he was hearing, the more of the secret that was leaking out. Forget about how the bush prevented him from reading the kouhai's expression, the most important thing now was to learn who this 'him' was.

"Don't deny it, you know very well who I'm referring to. Sou, Tanabe Frances Heart. Don't tell me you've forgotten him." he was right after all. Ryuzaki-sensei indeed did acknowledge who Tanabe Frances Heart was. Though that didn't explain the reaction she had when hearing upon on one certain tennis professional might or might not on the land of the Japanese.

"I thought so. After all, what he'd done to you is hardly to be forgotten. " had this Tanabe done something terrible to Echizen? Why would Ryuzaki-sensei speak ill of this Tanabe guy as if she knew his character very well?

"Look, Ryoma. I don't mean to bring up the past, but you have to keep in mind that why you have moved, and are in disguise now. You ought to know how worry we all are. We really care for you, more than anything else. Your dad made a mistake and he thought he could mend it by forbidding you from playing tennis. I thought he did the right thing too but when the moment Tezuka put you into the list, I began to have doubts. Throughout all these time, the games you played proved of my doubting. Tennis is your life. You've been playing it since you were a kid. We shouldn't have stopped you, yet we couldn't take the risk of you being recognized."

'What disguise? What mistake? What being recognized?' the sadist thought and his sense told him that he was very getting near of finding out Echizen's darkest secret. Decided, he thought he'd better continue eavesdropping.

"Even if the rumour was true, let's hope he won't be able to see through your disguise. Neither one of us want history to repeat itself, particularly your dad." although Echizen remained silent, but both Fuji and the coach knew he was listening. Even if Echizen could have thrown a comeback, he would still be interrupted by Oishi's distant call anyhow.

* * *

Oishi was expected to encounter with the certain genius when he came close to where Fuji was last heard of. Instead, he had a head fallen Echizen and a serious face coach greeting him. An obedient student he was, Oishi greeted politely with respect. He didn't need to have a sharp instinct like Tezuka or Fuji had to notice the heavy intense atmosphere in front; therefore he smartly excused himself, again, politely.

He would have left the scene if it wasn't for Ryuzaki-sensei, who said: "No, it's ok, Oshi. I'll be leaving anyway." Then to Echizen she turned before continuing. "Just be cautious." And she got up and left.

If Fuji was having difficulty keeping track on the conversation, imagine Oishi. Fuji was there hiding to listen to a private conversation, but Oishi wasn't and so he asked with confusion on what on earth was that about. Unfortunately for him, Echizen chose the same moment to interrupt before he could reach to the topic.

"What's with Fuji-senpai, Oishi-senpai? Practice isn't over, has it?" Echizen knew how rude it was to cut off the uncompleted sentence, but he wished not to have another lecture anymore. Not from Oishi-senpai. He, after all, had enough with all those lectures from the coach. Moreover, it wasn't the time for them to learn his secret just yet. If he had a choice, he would choose not to let them know of it. They didn't need to know what happened to him.

"No, not yet." perhaps he had befriended with the emotionless Buchou, or perhaps Echizen had been Tezuka the second, which was why Oishi could sense there was an evident stress and plead hinted in the questions. His motherly instinct told him that it might have even related to the warning thrown by the coach.

"Echizen, I don't know what troubles you, neither do I know what sensei had told you just back then, but I won't push you saying it. We just want you to know that, you always have us." Oishi was relieved to see his encouragement worked as he saw Echizen give an appreciative tiny smile.

"Anyway, I'd better look for Fuji; and you, Echizen, better be at the court."

Echizen was, for once, touched by the confrontation. How glad he was that it was Oishi-senpai he was meeting with and not Momoshiro-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai; or the result would have be a lot more catastrophes, not to mention more irritations and headaches.

And what about Fuji? Well, let's just say he was currently occupied by his little own world.

--End of Chapter 8--

* * *

Glossary:  
Ichinen trio: freshmen (consisting of Kachiro, Katsuro and Horio)

Buchou: captain

Senpai: senior

Sensei: coach

Ichinen: 'first year' or 'freshman', whichever suit you

Iie, chotto: no, I don't.

Sou ka: I see

Kouhai: a junior

* * *

Cdgal: another suspense! evil laugh What is that conversation all about? The answer is ... please stay tune on Chapter 9!! more evil laugh


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters of Prince of Tennis, except for Wataru and Tanabe. TT

--Chapter 9--

Sitting on the bench, Echizen Ryoma waited at the promised place. While taking his own time and enjoying the view while he could, Ryoma smiled envied that how he wished he was the one taking time strolling or was the one having a stupid as well as a silly conversation with his mates but not the one watching all those activities occurring at the park right now. After having some moment to consider the chat with Ryuzaki-sensei and Oishi-senpai earlier in the day, he finally came to a conclusion. Now all he had to do was to wait for Tanabe to come which he did 10 minutes later. Echizen also realized that he couldn't back out of his decision now when the whole of this matter should be settle once and for all.

"So you came. I presume you have my answer?"

"Yes I have." Echizen faced with a confidence at the Inui-senpai duplicate, "and my answer to you is..."

* * *

--20 minutes ago, at the opposite direction--

Students in Seishun Gakuen took their time scattered around the place after the ring of the final bell, except for one particular member from the tennis club who sped off as if he was pursued by a cheetah. And that was how it led to the Regulars to strike a concerning chat upon that particular person on their way home.

"I wonder where Echizen has gone off to..." Momoshiro asked.

"Family matters?" suggested Taka-san.

"Who could possible be more important than Karupin?" not that Momoshiro hadn't had the similar thought, but how would today be any different to those days having Echizen walking home with them?

The double personalities aggressive baseliner gave that a thought before corresponding with a 'Sou da yo na.'

"Don't worry, Momo. He'll tell us when he's ready." reassured the Mother of Seigaku, aka the fuku-buchou, otherwise known as Oishi, who thought that had been better than to take a wild guess.

"But that could be weeks, months or even years!" Momoshiro's exclamation would be true considering Echizen's character. 'Or we would never been told even', grunted the sophomore.

"Fsh, we could try calling him..."

"Or we could treat him to Kawamura's special with Inui's drink. That should do the trick." said the sadist with a smile.

There wasn't anyone didn't shudder at the thought, including Tezuka. To choose between the given options, Momoshiro gave no hesitation to make the call.

"I don't think that would be neccessary." the abrupt warning came a second too late to halt the call button being pressed. Wondering why Fuji-senpai stopped him, Momoshiro looked up and his eyes followed the finger point to the ground. A bag. It was a school bag with the signature 'R' block letter printed on it in bright red. As if there wasn't enough evidence, a white cap with 'F' imprint laid diagonally on the bag already stained with dirt. Every heart as already thumping at the crime scene exposed to them, but their hearts leapt even more at the mobile phone ringing from the bag within. With so much solid evidence exposed to them and the bag and the cap being the properties of a certain freshman who they intended to hunt for, the group dispersed almost immediately as they shared the final verdict to the investigation that Echizen must be somewhere near.

While Momoshiro explored, something flashed at the right corner of his eyes. Two figures was the thing he saw. One short and another was half a height taller. Going by his instinct that the short figure was Echizen, he ran forward thus forgetting Oishi-senpai, who went in the same direction as he was.

"I found him!" Momoshiro cried for joy. "Oi, Echizen!!" as Echizen seemed to be deaf, he yelled a little bit louder.

Oishi, on the other hand, didn't seem to be as joyful as Momoshiro was of their reunion with their kouhai. The reason being that was it was such an odd scene in front of them that Echizen and the unknown shadow were extremely intimate with each other. Both of them were leaning on the tree that hid them so well. That, however, couldn't mean a thing, but seeing the finger on Echizen's neck was definitely something. And because of that, Oishi tried to warn Momoshiro.

Too absorbed in the thought of rushing towards Echizen, Momoshiro failed to hear the warning. Only when he came closer did he realize that the scene wasn't a friendly one, but was of something that could haunt him for eternity. He was there to witness Echizen being strangled.

"Hey!! What are you doing?" caught in the act, the strangler loosened his grip on Echizen and took off, abandoning Echizen on the ground where he left slipping. And Momoshiro ran after him. He brushed past the victim while gritting a "nigenai na, nigenai yo!" during the chase.

After cursing himself for losing sight of the attacker at the second junction, Momoshiro sprung back just in time to see Oishi-senpai already treating the fallen prodigy in his arms. At first he thought Echizen would be ok since he could hear a faint whisper of addressing him and Oishi-senpai, but soon he took back that thought when Echizen went limp.

"Oi! Echizen, shikkarishi yo!!" too bad the tactic of a pat on the face wasn't working on the unconscious prince. "Oi!!"

* * *

Retreating from the room where he treated the "sleeping" prince for the past 3 hours, Doctor Shuujirou was greeted by some people pacing around, some sitting, a few leaning against the wall and one sobbing.

"How's Echizen, Shuujirou-jisan?" Oishi asked.

3 hours ago, a wild phone call took place after Echizen had fainted and soon one by one a group of Seigaku Regulars, minus Echizen of course, were gathered. Since none of them knew how to contact the Echizens, they called up the only adult they trusted the most and had her done her job. While Ryuzaki-sensei had gone to make the call, the Regulars rushed to the nearest hospital, and luckily for them, the hospital where Oishi's uncle worked was just down the block.

The doctor chose not to respond to that question. He had not intended to break one of the rules he had to keep. As a doctor, he had the rights to keep the profile to the condition of his patients. Relatives or not, confidential is confidential.

To Kikumaru, as simple minded as he could be, was thinking to its double meaning. Usually when a doctor gave the silent treatment, it meant "I'm sorry. I'd did my best". The more he thought, the more he got pessimistic about it. The doctor was silent after treating Ochibi, so that would mean that, that...

"Oh no! Ochibi's dying!!"

A chorus of "Eiji/Eiji-senpai!!" and an addition of a 30 laps around the hospital from the captain were the consequences of being a drama king. Then, as if on cue, more than one pair of running footsteps were heard and most of them turned their heads to see who was there to disturb the peace.

"Doctor!" this was directed towards Oishi from a woman, who didn't have time to catch for her breath at her arrival, since he was nearest to the door. Kindly and patiently, Oishi corrected the woman her mistake before introducing himself.

"I'm fuku-buchou desu."

Realizing her mistake, the woman turned to the next person who she thought had the most doctor look, Tezuka.

Again, like Oishi, Tezuka did an introduction after correcting her second mistake of the day. "Buchou desu." was exactly what he said. On the surface, the Buchou was collected and expressionless, but on the inside was another thing. He twitched while at the same time asking himself 'Was I that old?' This wasn't his first time. He could understand why people kept addressing him wrongly, but there was one thing he could never understand was his constant change of "identity". First, it was 'sensei' by Kawamura's dad, and now this.

On her third attempt, she got the right person. When that happened, the woman fired a bullet of questions of "Doctor, how's Ryo-chan? Is he ok? Can I see him?" in different versions.

"Rinko, Ryo-chan will be ok... " reassured a man beside the woman. If they got a closer look at him, they could have shrieked and then fainted. Why? Because the man with them was no ordinary man, neither was an ordinary sportsman. "No, I'm sure he's fine, right old hag?"

"Rinko, Nanjiroh's right. Ryoma will be as strong as a horse before we know it. If he could go through 'that', then he sure can this time." to Ryuzaki-sensei, only this man would dare to call her an old hag and get away with it. Under normal circumstances, she would have hit him right at the back of his head. Only today, this moment was different because she had more important things to do right now. Twitching slightly while confronting, she continued.

"Why don't we let the doctor fills us in, while at the same time we could ask questions of our own, hmm?"

Without saying another word, the doctor led the adults to the room where Ryoma was laid. From there they would have a private conversation and perhaps they had the answers to his doubts. Although Ryuzaki-sensei wasn't a family member, but Doctor Shuujirou knew it would do so much help if she was there to support the victim's family. Thus, she was a special case.

"Sensei."

Ryuzaki-sensei stopped in her tracks but didn't turn around. She recognized that voice and knew what Fuji wanted to ask. Yet she couldn't tell a soul, not without the Echizens' permission. Instead she said. "Later Fuji. Later." with that said, she closed the door. For once, Fuji's blue eyes lost its charm.

"What was that about?"

"Saa."

If the Regulars didn't get a clue on the previous conversation, then it would be most definite that they wouldn't understand about the last conversation that Ryuzaki-sensei and Fuji had just shared. They could ask Fuji if he was his usual self - the all knowing smile and being sadist - and if they had an option, they would prefer facing that side of him than this other side.

The group of 8 was losing their cool for each minute passed. It had been about 30 minutes now, and there was still no sign for the door to reopen. Nobody was willing to leave either, not without knowing Echizen's well-being and everything else they wanted to know. It was the same scene as another 20 minutes gone by, only this time someone they were somewhat familiar with the one that had decided to join them.

"Oi!!" almost all heads rose up to see it was Kevin Smith. Sweat already dripping from his head implied that he had rushed here as fast as he could. What a loyal friend he had, they all thought.

"How's Echizen?" since no one could recap a better story than Momoshiro and Oishi did, and Oishi having the most patience than Momoshiro told from the beginning. Once the fuku-buchou had finished, 'I see' was all the American friend could speak of and then another silence occurred.

"Maybe I should..."

"Tell us what's going on with Echizen." not letting Kevin to complete his sentence, Fuji cut in a rather rude way.

"I'm afraid I've got nothing to tell."

"Yes you do." Fuji stressed the 3 little words firmly. Nothing could stop him from learning the truth, and he wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Soon staring contests began to spark between the two when Kevin insisted to be mute.

In the end it was Kevin who sighed in defeat. Not because he was a loud mouth, but because they would know sooner or later. It was only a matter of time. Plus he couldn't possibly fly back and forth between USA and Japan every time when Echizen was in trouble.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but you hear nothing from me. Is that a deal?"

"Deal."

"Just shoot with whatever you want to ask."

"Why did Echizen hate tennis so much? Despite that he beat almost everyone out there."

"Echizen didn't hate it. As a matter of fact, it's his life. "

"That still doesn't answer why he refused to play."

"There's a reason to it. He could and would play, though with a great price. Ryoma was taught by a professional tennis player but it wasn't his dad. It was someone who was once close to the family. It also was the same reason why Nanjiroh-jisan, his dad forbade him from playing it."

As soon as that was said, something triggered into Tezuka's mind. The argument Ryuzaki-sensei and Echizen had earlier beginning of the year. If his memory didn't fail him, Ryoma did claim that he couldn't play and that he wasn't going to let his dad repeat of his doing again.

"You mean to tell me that that monk was THE Echizen Nanjirou? The legendary tennis pro, who won 37 consecutive championships?" disbelief was more than understatement to Momoshiro.

"The one and only."

"Echizen Nanjirou, Echizen Ryoma. Should've known."

"I'm confuse nya. Ochibi loves tennis, yet he was forbidden to play. Nande?"

Kevin couldn't bring up the name himself, so instead he kept quiet.

"Tanabe Frances Heart." that name wasn't coming from the storyteller, but was from Tezuka.

"Nya? The Inui look-a-like? What's that got to do with Ochibi..." it was then realization struck on the acrobatic player. "Ochibi knows the Inui double!! Mou, that's not fair! And Ochibi didn't tell..." no one bothered to tell Kikumaru that he had been off-track, neither he was aware that he was being ignored.

"He did something to Echizen, didn't he? That Tanabe." nothing further was said after Fuji spoke. If it was so, then everything came very clear to the questions they had for the young Echizen. Because of him, Echizen was forbidden from playing tennis. Because of him, the Echizens had lived in fear. Because of him, this is how Echizen had become. All because of him, Tanabe Frances Heart, and now he had returned for the Echizens, particularly Ryoma.

"Was this 'the deepest mess' he said after we won the Kantou tournament? That we would end up meeting this Tanabe guy?" Kevin nodded. Ryoma had told him his decision over the phone the following day after his victory against Rikkai Dai. He had actually admitted that he was frightened. Not for himself, but for his new friends. He didn't want something bad to happen to them. He wanted his friendship with them to last as forever. However, through him, the Regulars might have a chance meeting with Tanabe Frances Heart, the tennis professional of 2 years. Ryoma himself also knew that Tanabe would come back to him, but it had never occurred to him that it would be this soon.

"And Echizen wasn't being himself lately. Was it because..."

"That's enough, minna." the adults had chosen the same moment to reappear. It was more like Ryuzaki-sensei was going out from the room, and it wasn't the doctor nor the Echizens. Seeing Kevin being surrounded by her team, she had a hunch of what was going on and what the conversation would be about. Placing a hand on Kevin's shoulder signaled him that he had his turn and now it was her time to answer anything regarding their doubts.

Kevin, understanding the gesture, moved to the door then closed it. He knew having only Ryuzaki-sensei support the Echizens just wasn't enough. She already had a handful from the parents and might not be there for the child when he needed help. He and Ryuzaki-sensei played an very important role to the Echizens, as they were the ones closest to the Echizens and had seen their worst.

"He had returned, hadn't he?" Fuji wasn't going to give up until he had answers. That last statement spoke by the same person was more of a statement than a question. Yes, he already knew the answer, but he really needed her confirmation. He pressed further when the coach remained silent.

"Ryuzaki-sensei!"

"Yes, he's back. Fuji. He's back for Ryoma." it was their first time, ever since meeting their coach, to see that look on her face. The expression was so unreadable that they would never forget.

--End of Chapter 9--

* * *

Glossary:  
Sou da yo na: in a way to say "I'm agree (with you)".

Shikkarishi yo: an epression to wake up someone who is unconscious

Sensei: can have many different meanings. It can be doctors, scientists, professors, directors and etc, in this case it's a teacher.

Fuku-buchou: vice captain

Buchou: captain

Nigaenai na, nigenai yo: 'I won't let you escape' or 'don't you dare escape'

Saa: here it's means 'I don't know' or 'I have no idea at all'

Nande: meaning "why"

* * *

Cdgal: X.X took me so long to type this chapter up. I won't put into details what happened to Echizen, so I leave that to your imagination. The reason being that is because I don't intend to have it to be angst further than it had already been. It is definitely that Tanabe did something real bad to our poor Ryoma.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Every character appears in the original Prince of Tennis are the properties of Konomi Takeshi. While the others, are belong to me.

--Chapter 10--

The day was usual for the Seigaku Tennis Club. Half of the ichinens were swinging their rackets, another the other half were picking up balls. The second and third years were running laps around the courts, and so were the Regulars with Inui's new invention to spice it up. It was time to get serious since the next tournament, the Nationals, was less than a week. Even so, no one could forget the events on the days prior, neither was it brought up. It was suicidal enough if the rest of the members learned about it. Imagine the damage that would've caused. That was how it had been for the Regulars until the Nationals...

The arena for the Nationals was grander and much more crowded than those previous games they'd played. It hadn't been an easy task to reach to the top, but Seigaku had done it. The team had beaten up its rivals from St Rudolph to Rikkai Dai yet no matter how ridiculous it was, these rivals would exchange words like 'good luck' or 'win, or else' or 'we won't lose to the same team twice' before alternate glares came rolling in. To Seigaku members, none of them ever realized that there was anything, but the innocent plot planned ahead on the opposite direction...

* * *

"Yo."

"Geez, you've scared me." Wataru Suzuku of Aoyama High glared at the culprit creeping behind the tree he was leaning on. "I should've with my team if I'd knew this would happen."

"Then why shouldn't you?"

Wataru rolled his eyes at the joke the culprit commented with arms crossed. "Split it. Who is it this time?" wasn't the word he meant to speak at first, but after watching that look on his ex-partner's face, he just couldn't hold back the mischief grin of his own. The 'Oni Pair' was once what they called themselves as. Whoever had them picked on had a same wish that they would never been born as long as the pair lived. None had ever escaped from their games but one. Wataru had not known who because he had been forced to move away due to their last prank, apart from felt certain his friend would carry on with that name after his departure.

Wataru was astonished when he learnt they had an escapee, though it was nothing compared with name whispered in his ear. His grin broadened at the affirmative nod at his doubt. He had to admit how cruel destiny could be when it worked like charm, and almost felt pity for a particular Echizen on their reunion day. Almost.

* * *

"How's Echizen doing?" the Monkey King, Atobe, asked while his attention fixed at the game played before him.

"Nothing out of ordinary." the Buchou of Seigaku Tennis Club replied since the apparent question was dedicated to him. He too, had the same attention like Hyoutei's Buchou, his eyes on Echizen, who was currently serving the ball.

"Why'd you ask?"

Knowing the Seigaku's Buchou meant no offense, Atobe shrugged.

"Just helping looking out for him."

It took a moment later for Tezuka to digest that sentence. "You knew." was all he could say. He didn't have the chance to ask how because the diva had beaten him with a word, which didn't clear his confusion still.

"Yukimura was on the same hospital wing." and he delibrately left the next word 'He was just next door' unsaid. One could drop his or her jaw at the sight of the expressionless Buchou bowing deeply before them but not for a certain rich diva, whom placed a comforting gesture on the bowing captain's shoulder. Words weren't important because his action had said it all: What are friends for?

Just then the spectators cheered. It seemed that Seigaku had won another game. It was only the third game played so far for the day, and if it was correctly calculated, that would mean 2 more games were needed for Seigaku to win in order to to proceed to the semifinals. Perhaps it was of ego or perhaps it was because Seigaku had beaten his own team to a game, Atobe threw his own way of expressing congratulations, 'He did well, but I was better', to Tezuka before moving himself to where his team was. So was Atobe was friend or a foe? It didn't matter.

"What does Monkey King want?"

Tezuka wasn't sure how to respond to Echizen's question. He couldn't tell the young prodigy that Atobe knew could he? He didn't want to think of the consequence if he said they, the Regulars, learned of his condition. The outcome would be what he had predicted, and he didn't want that to be happening, neither did he want to affect Echizen when he still had games to play.

As if on cue, Oishi came to the rescue to inform that he was needed by Ryuzaki-sensei. What the vice-captain received in return was an ambiguous nod. To thank him for the information and for the interruption.

However that gesture wasn't discreet enough to someone who wasn't the type to be easily fooled. Echizen, while eyeing the duo suspiciously, could sense something fishy about the exchanging glances. It was like a secret, a secret they didn't want to let him know. One solid proof he could pick up was that the Regulars had been quite overprotective of him over the past few days. It didn't mean they weren't so before the sudden change in attitudes but following him wherever he went meant something else. The Regulars would sometimes approached him either in pairs or in groups, never leaving him alone with just himself or one person. Even so, he couldn't blame them because he himself had secrets of his own.

A loud congratulation of "You've won, Ochibi! You've won!!" pried away Echizen's inner thoughts. It was the Regulars that came one by one with the hyperactive third year on the lead, who literally bounced towards them before giving his kouhai a deadly hug.

* * *

Hours later, somewhere under a giant tree, there gathered 9 representatives from Seishun Gakuen and 5 ichinens who were having break after the busied morning. The group couldn't be more usual than they already been - the continuation of bickering between 2 rivals, a bubbly conversation between the Golden Pair, a discussion between a future sushi chief No.1 and the data man, a silent treatment from the 2 top players of the club, plus 4 ichinens suffering from 2 impossible ichinens, especially a certain rookie whose mouth was stuffed with food.

"Kimi." it wasn't Kevin Smith neither was their coach disturbing their peaceful moment, but rather a by-passer whose finger pointed directly to Echizen informing, "You've got some visitors asking for your presence."

Despite of having doubts who those 'some visitors' could be, Echizen followed the kid passed through the crowds. He thought nothing more than to put blame on his baka oyaji for making the family losing their way, and therefore missing his game, and now causing him to retrieve them. He made a mental note to himself that he had better not to let the former pro watch "Dennis the Menace" ever again. Never ever.

Back to the group, the Regulars thought they deserved a stretch at Echizen's departure. However, never had it occurred to them that leaving Echizen unattended was a huge mistake, so when they did, it had been too late. How did they realize they were being set-up? Because no sooner Echizen left, Echizen Nanjiroh came along with his wife.

"Yo." the elder Echizen squatted while greeting the seishounen-tachi. Scanning through the surrounding, he asked where the gaki was. That gaki Echizen Nanjiroh referring to was his bratty son, who he noticed wasn't with the group he was supposed to be with.

"Wasn't..." the Regulars instantly tensed up as soon as they were being asked. Why would the father ask them when the younger Echizen was away to meet them? They were the one requested for him, weren't they? And he did go, didn't he?

"Wasn't what?" Nanjiroh's heart skipped as he sensed the tension from the seishounen-tachi. He and Rinko had just managed to put aside all their errands before rushing to the tournament as soon as they could. Moreover, they reminded Nanako-chan to take care of the family cat before their departure. The reason to that was because they had been tricked once thinking that Karupin had fall onto its captor, which happened to be a false alarm. Therefore, the cat couldn't be the reason his arrogant son left his guardians. So what could it be?

As alarmed as the ex-tennis pro, the Regulars stood up despite of their food splilling all over the place. To them, their current appearances weren't as crucial as to search for the freshman. It had better for them to start their search before the situation came much worse than it had been. Moments later, the spot they had once occupied now left the mother of Echizen along with the ichinens.

* * *

Nothing was wrong at first, for Ryoma to follow the person in front to meet his 'visitors', but the pair had yet to reach their destination. Noticing it had been quite a distance from where they had left, Echizen stopped his pace refusing to move any further until his questions had been answered.

"Who are you? Why and where are you taking me? What do you want from me?" heck, he didn't even know this kid. If he had only knew, then he wouldn't have tag along. Though what Echizen didn't know was that he had asked the question to the wrong person. The kid in front was only did what he had been told. How would he give him answers when he wasn't the one behind all this?

Fuming at how he received no reply, Echizen would rather walk back than to waste his time trying to make the person talked. He would do so if it wasn't for someone who decided to show himself.

"You!" exclaimed Echizen.

* * *

--End of Chapter 10--

Glossary:  
Ichinens: 'freshmen' or 'first years'

Kouhai: a junior

Oni: demon

Kimi: you

Baka oyaji: stupid dad

Seishounen-tachi: young boys

Gaki: brat

* * *

Cdgal: OMG!! Who was this 'you'? What did he wanted Echizen for? How would Echizen react towards the reunion? To me this is the best place I call for the suspense. Ho! Ho!! Ho!! but stop the instant she received a numbers of murderous glares


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is the property of Konomi Takeshi.

--Recap--

Echizen Ryoma, a transferred student, had a secret past. When his life was about to get back on track, a new terror came crawling back to him. Now that the Regulars learnt his past, but of what reason Tanabe Frances Heart, a tennis pro of 2 years, wanted him for, that was something they hadn't been told. The Nationals, was near approaching and before they knew it, the group of 9 was taking a break after their first match for the big day. Meanwhile, on the opposite direction a plot was properly planned to lure Ryoma out from his protective guardians. By the time the Regulars realized they had been tricked, a wild search party started in an instant...

* * *

-Chapter 11--

"You!" exclaimed Echizen.

Tanabe Frances Heart emerged from the shadow. His evil grin never left his handsome face. He enjoyed the youngster fear of him. That was his expectation. However he seemed to have underestimated the kouhai and promptly lost his balance once he heard the 3 little words.

"Who are you?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Echizen Nanjiroh, along with the Regulars, had yet to find the youngest Echizen's whereabouts. They had asked their rivalry schools - Fudomine High, St Rudolph, Yamabuki, Hyoutei and Rikkaidai - but found no luck as all shook their heads indicating they hadn't seen the young prodigy since the match this morning.

Their agony, especially Nanjiroh's, widened. It had been more than 45 minutes since the search; still there was no news for the missing child. Even Rinko, who was sitting with the ichinen trio, couldn't stop worrying for her one and only child. She was neither blind nor bold. She had seen how alarm her husband was after hearing the unfinished confession. That 'wasn't...' had said enough. It didn't take her long to realize it was a trap, and her son, Ryoma, had fall for it again. The first time was a false alarm, and Karupin itself was the culprit. However, someone had used that to threaten him. That was how their once peaceful life began to collapse. Today was the second time, and this time the real culprit used her and her husband as an excuse. She understood why Ryoma left: they had lost their way in the crowd, and a certain reckless father was to blame for it... only that wasn't the case. The parents decided to meet Ryuzaki-sensei, Seigaku's coach, at the West entrance. One of the purposes to such arrangement was the coach would lead them to where her son and his group were, and another was they were paired up to prevent the culprit used anyone of them to against their child.

'Please be safe.' prayed Rinko quietly to the sky.

* * *

Tanabe, after having his composure, inspected Ryoma before giving his conclusion. It was a smirk, and then a phrase 'you almost had me fooled'. Those 2 alone would scatter the cool and calm ichinen to a sophisticated and agitated one. It was as if he was a kid having caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.

Ryoma's instinct told him that the latter had something underneath his sleeve, and when he saw Tanabe wore that expression - 'I know something you don't - it usually meant he was in a very deep trouble. Spontaneously he grabbed his cell phone from his pocket then dialed a number he wouldn't forget. Who would forget the number to his own house?

While he was listening in for a picking up, the tallest guy didn't fret one bit. Instead he looked on like watching a good show that didn't involve him. Ryoma, on the other hand, was nothing close to content. He was alarmed, disturbed and terrified. Why wasn't the person on the other side of the phone picking up his call? He tried and tried and tried, but the result remained unchanged.

'Where are dad, mum and Nanako-san? Where's Karupin?'

* * *

Nanjiroh and the Regulars had regathered for the updates before they spilt up once more. The father had heard from the old hag that the Regulars learnt only half of the story; as of why Ryoma was targeted, neither she nor Kevin told them about it. The news, although, was comforting, but not entirely. Knowing Ryoma, he didn't want them to have connections with Tanabe. They would be like him, becoming Tanabe's victims. The Caucasian lad with Asian blood wouldn't allow other people surpassing him, notably the minors. Nanjiroh could descry how capable the Regulars were. He had seen their plays, and it was undeniable that the stonic bi-spectacle buchou and the feminine smiling blond would be the next targets if both were to play to their full extent. That was the complete truth to what happened to Ryoma.

Ryoma had played and beaten Tanabe to a single handed victory. As a father, he wouldn't be more proud that not only his son had his blood, but also followed his footstep. For a child, who merely reached the age of 7, to beat someone 8 years his senior was considered a prodigy. A tensai. A new hope and dream. A shining star to be born. It was such a glory, yet at the same time was also the countdown to the Echizens' downfall. Neither of the said family member was aware of the danger that beginning to crawl towards them. By the time they came to realization, the damage had been done. The flashes of half assaulted Ryoma adhered inside the mind of the Echizens' for eternity. The least to say he was one lucky guy. There were no revolting scars marks printed on any parts of his body; but if Nanjiroh and his rescue team, Kevin, came a minute late, they would have to bid the youngster of the family an eternal farewell. Only the maximum of 2 outsiders, other than the family members, comprehended of what Tanabe did to Ryoma.

It wasn't like they didn't report against their formal neighbour, they did, but none would believe the accusation the Echizens made. For every report they filed, it was always a different versions of the same answer: 'A one-year tennis pro strangled an 11 year old kid? Who are you trying to kid? What good would he get even if he did? Nothing! He's already under the spotlight. He has all the fame he ever wanted, so there's no way he's willing to ruin the reputation he's been trying to attain.' It was either that, or the Echizens would receive a letter of warning for filing a false accusation against Tanabe. They, eventually, realized that life didn't always play a fair game after encountered numerous of failures. In conclusion, they gave up hope and moved to Japan in disappointment, hoping to live in an undisturbed new life. However, due to Tanabe's freshly grown stardom status, it shouldn't hard for him to hunt down Ryoma with the popularity, wealth and power he began to savour.

Before the period of the horrid tragedy, Nanjiroh had thought that Ryoma would gain more experience under Tanabe's care by entering tournaments for junior and senior years. Never had the ex-tennis championship aware that that had triggered a predicament that inevitably led the life they were in now. The father put blame on himself for ruining his own son's life. If only he knew this was how it turned out to be, he wouldn't let Ryoma learnt from Tanabe, or even let him touched tennis in the first place; and so the father played the role of an antagonist. He forced tennis out of Ryoma's life for good.

Now that they had moved to another country, the chances of Tanabe finding Ryoma was slim if only his son would maintain a low profile and not exposed himself out for tennis play. Having Ryoma entering Seishun Gakuen, a school academy which had a reputation for sport, was the very first mistake the formal tennis pro did, but it was nothing compared to have his only child stayed out from tennis. He might not understand what it was like to be having his very own life controlled by others, other than himself; but the emotions his son was having, he had seen them all, and was powerless to change the misfortune.

Nanjiroh couldn't deny the fact that he was indeed proud when he heard from Baa-san that Ryoma was offered to become as a Regular. However, he couldn't take the chance of the past to be resurfaced. His family had dealt enough back in US, so he wasn't going to take the same risk twice. Not this time round. Nevertheless, the new changes in Ryoma didn't go unnoticed. The brat, the least to say, was torn between his own determinations to play and the risk of being discovered by Tanabe. The truth finally came out to him in the Kantou Tournament that he saw his son at the bench restricted for players only. That meant his son was a Regular, which also meant he was back in action for some tennis, which equivalent to embracing the danger from ahead without consulting him, his own dad. Spontaneously, he approached to Ryoma to order him to forfeit the game before the situation went beyond his control. The final evaluation revealed to him that he wasn't good in persuasion. In other word, he was supposed to mend it, not worsen it.

After having witnessed the confession from Ryoma and the incentive, in a very odd way, from his tennis mates, the father of the young prodigy recollected his thoughts whether or not had he really did a right thing by ending his son's only favourite spending time. He contemplated at the sensibility in the old woman's words; although he hated to admit it she was right for once. This was Ryoma's problem, and only he himself could demise it. Reciting the word - 'it's now or never' - over and over again, the father learnt to let go as he beginning to realize he was, as a matter of fact, running away from the problem instead of resolving it.

He was more than pleasant to see how supportive and how caring the Regulars were. They were all concerned over Ryoma's being. They helped him to look after Ryoma as he was unable to do so from the outside, even the old hag called to inform him for the updates as she had known the Echizens longer than anyone else. He knew the the time begun its countdown the instant the threatening letter, which stating that Karupin was in his possession, arrived upon to the Echizen residence. The warning bell inside of Nanjiroh's mind rang off in a maddening speed as he read its content. It was signed anonymously, but it had tone of provoking. The sender knew the family had a cat, and the man of the house fathom that it couldn't be Ryuzaki-sensei because she didn't need to send a letter when she could just pick up the telephone and called, and couldn't be Kevin as well for he didn't even bother to pick up a pen and wrote a 'zenryaku' when he could just sit in front of a computer msn-ing. Therefore, that narrowed down to only one possibility. Tanabe Frances Heart.

The first time Nanjiroh was on the telephone that day was making a call to the old woman, requesting never to let Ryoma out off of her sight. Never had he thought that the old woman would call him on that same day, delivering a disheartening new that Ryoma had been attacked and was on the way to XXX Hospital as they spoke.  
"Where you you?"

Could both prayers from Rinko and Nanjiroh reached to the ear of their child? Only heaven knew.

* * *

"What had you did to my family, you bastard!" Ryoma cried angrily, while tightened his grip on his phone. He didn't plan or intent to snap it off in case someone in the house might hear it. Much to his dismay, it was the same dialing tone even he had his phone pulled away from his ear. He despised him, the guy who gave him nothing but trouble. He tried his best not to launch at the man in front of him and beat the crap out of him. Not when he was hopeless in disadvantage.

The said lad was in no rush to speak. In fact, he was enjoyed every moment of it. He stood unmoving, as if waiting for something to occur. Just then the chorus of "Dear Prince, Tennis no Oujisama-tachi He" sprung alive, interrupting the tension.

Ryoma didn't bulge for he knew it wasn't from his cell phone. Since there were only two people there, and if it wasn't from the kid, then obviously it was from his side. Therefore with a slow deliberation, Tanabe fished out his phone.

"Hello," he greeted before listening in what the other side had to say. He then passed his phone to Ryoma, saying. "It's for you."

The cat-like eyes child could smell something suspicious. He wasn't think, rather he was pretty firmed about the latter was plotting something big, exactly how big it was, he couldn't identify. Accepting the foreign call, he spoke not a word. Instead he let the other side, aka the caller, did all the talking.

* * *

By the time the clock ticked a quarter to 1 p.m. was the time Ryoma chose to return from wherever he came from. The Regulars would have cheer for joy or bear hug to death (in Kikumaru's case) if it wasn't the time for them to sign up for the game for the next 15 minutes time. It was a relief that the kouhai had returned to the game in time, but Tezuka-buchou took an extra precaution to place Ryoma as a reserve player. He thought it was better to play safe than to take the risk for Ryoma to miss his play in the Single game.

As the Regulars settled themselves on the bench, the ichinen trio took their chance to ask where Ryoma had been, but he didn't answer any of them. The grave face of the youngster couldn't be ignored by the observers, and most of them were the third years, but they brought up nothing as such. As far as they concerned, they had seen that face of Ryoma before. As of now, the game was more important, and Tezuka did believe that Ryoma wouldn't let his emotion affecting his performance like he did when he played Sanada during the Kantou tournament. Today's game was indeed crucial for the third years - Tezuka, Fuji, Oishi, Kikumaru and Inui. If they won the next round, the championship, in no doubt, was theirs to bear; however if they lost, it was the end for the third years, and was a broken promise, in Tezuka's case.

Tezuka had promised to himself that he would lead Seigaku to win the Nationals for the first time in 2 decades when he was in first year. He had found many talents in the team he was leading for a year: there were a tensai, Fuji Shuusuke; the Golden Pair, Oishi Shuuichirou and Kikumaru Eiji; an analyst, Inui Sadaharu; a power play, Kawamura Takashi; a matching rival, Kaidoh Kaoru and Momoshiro Takeshi; and a many-hidden-talents prodigy, Echizen Ryoma. Together with him, Tezuka Kunimitsu, the stoic captain, he believed this would be a new turning point for Seishun Gakuen. Many hopes were laid upon to them: there were their first match, Higa High; their unavoidable match with Hyotei High, their toughest opponent, Shitenhouji High and their last opponent, Rikkaidai. He wasn't about to let them or his team down.

At 2 p.m. sharp, the game began as it promised. Fuji, who was assigned to play Single 3, stood inside the court did his warming up while waiting for his opponent to appear. When the opponent didn't appear as he would have, the referee called for the name, not twice but three times. Just about he was to call a forfeit, a tall and slender guy with a pair of sunglasses suddenly merged to the front, apologizing for being late. After received the warning for his tardiness, this Kitahara guy hopped into the court in such a full of confidence that as if he could eat Fuji into a love game without a sweat.

Fuji, conscious of the provocation, didn't show his knowing eyes. Instead he gave a smile that it froze his team on the spot. He chose to ignore the rude comment from Eiji, the hissing noise from Kaidoh and an interruption sneeze from Inui as he continued to give his sweet yet venomous smile.

"I hope you're not blind." Fuji said casually before serving the ball. He then smashed it to exactly what he wanted to smash, the glasses, to exactly where he wanted the object to land, on the ground.

"Ah, I was right. You're not blind at all." He said, this time with his eyes snapped open. As of his aura, it couldn't be easily ignored or forgotten for those people who known him.

'Never ever provoke Fuji, even if he looked harmless and innocent' was the first lesson of the day.

Kitahara Touji was highly amused. He could feel his adrenaline boiling hot from within. With just one shot he witnessed, it didn't take a genius to assert that this blondie was good. There had never been a person manage to slip the sunglasses off his face before. Needless to say, this 'girl' in front of him had skill.

Soon both Fuji and Kitahara caught up with one another's score, with Seigaku leading. As the referee called for a change-over, the tensai took a spot beside Ryuzaki-sensei. He was no longer smirking nor wearing his infamous smiling face, but an exhausted one. His opponent, on the surface was a type of person who seemed to be reckless, but he, on the inside, was a tactic player. He would give this Kitahara guy a credit to break two of his counters, Tsubame Gaeshi and Higuma Otoshi. Though that didn't mean Fuji was to let his guard down. There were more counters he had yet to show and he already had a thought of using some of them to win straight aces.

Every one had their focus on Fuji, cheered for him and prayed for him, but one person whose name was Echizen Ryoma. He, instead, glanced up to the scoring board, which said:

Seigaku: 4

Aoyama High: 3

No one ever took notice of his worried expression for each score was announced, or even aware of his face went paler each time Seigaku scored a game. He even prayed like the ichinen trio, but his prayer couldn't be heard like the others. He had prayed nothing like a normal supporter did, a prayer to win, neither he was to forget his senpais' situation that this was the last match for the third years, but he couldn't forget one reality that he couldn't not to listen to the words that had been recited repetitively to his ears. The words that spelt 'Do not win.'

Ryoma understood the meaning of "desperate time for desperate measure". However, was he strong enough to do it that was one question he couldn't even answer for himself. As just the break was over, the golden eyes child realized how crucial his moment was, and then without a moment of hesitation, he rushed inside the court, and called for the senpai, who he admired after Tezuka, their buchou, with the bottom of his heart.

"Fuji-senpai," he called, trying to hold his breath. "Please don't win this game."

--End of Chapter 11--

* * *

Glossary:  
Kouhai: junior

Ichinen: first year(s)

-san: suffix for senior

Buchou: captain

Tensai: genius

Seishun Gakuen: full name for Seigaku

Baa-san: formally is obaa-san, which means granny, old woman and etc. In this case, it's Ryuzaki-sensei

Zenryaku: is an opening of a Japanese style letter. It's similar to a greeting, for instances 'hello, how are you?', in a Western letter.

Dear Prince, Tennis no Oujisama-tachi He: Dear Prince, to the princes of tennis

Ichinen trio: consists of Kachiro, Katsuro and Horio

Senpai: upperclass student(s)

Change-over: is a tennis term, which means the players swapping position during the rest time

Tsubame Gaeshi: Fuji's first counter, "Swallow Return".

Higuma Otoshi: "Bear Drop" is Fuji's second counter.

* * *

Cdgal: It's almost half a year since my last update. I hadn't got a slight idea for this chapter while I was in off mode period. This is how I do my things: I work alternatively on more or less 2 to 3 fics, carefully select my words of choice, do editing myself, and gather ideas along the way. It strained me when I'm having writer's block; but when my idea comes, it comes in bursts that I even neglect my beauty sleep. The thing is, it happens too frequently to my liking. Sigh~

An interesting fact: the ringtone Tanabe used is a song that sung by Ikemen Samurai (Echizen and Tezuka of Seigaku, Atobe of Hyoutei, Sanada and Yukimura of Rikkaidai, Kite of Higa High and finally Shiraishi of Shitenhouji)

I keep you suspense there. One more chapter before the epilogue. I hope you have fun reding ^o^


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